Delta Air Lines’ (DAL) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group restated their buy rating on shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $83.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Susquehanna upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.22.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE DAL opened at $64.07 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.70. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $35.28 and a 52 week high of $66.25. The company has a market cap of $41.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.02). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The business had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 8.33%.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In related news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,197,608.72. The trade was a 52.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total value of $173,128.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 108,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,499,635.40. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 140,240 shares of company stock valued at $8,044,893. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at approximately $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at approximately $189,296,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter worth $60,217,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,933,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $471,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,414,074,000 after buying an additional 749,099 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

Delta Air Lines, Inc provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Airline and Refinery. Its domestic network centered on core hubs in Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Salt Lake City, as well as coastal hub positions in Boston, Los Angeles, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, and Seattle; and international network centered on hubs and market presence in Amsterdam, Bogota, Lima, Mexico City, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Sao Paulo, Seoul-Incheon, and Tokyo.