TD Cowen Issues Positive Forecast for Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Stock Price

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its target price hoisted by TD Cowen from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on DAL. Zacks Research downgraded Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Dbs Bank raised Delta Air Lines to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. Argus boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.14.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 0.2%

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $67.91 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $38.66 and a 52 week high of $76.39. The company has a market capitalization of $44.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.75.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The transportation company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 6.87%.The firm had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 173,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $12,299,330.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 632,823 shares in the company, valued at $44,930,433. This trade represents a 21.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.21, for a total value of $2,491,560.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 95,731 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,542.51. This trade represents a 27.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 620,550 shares of company stock worth $44,127,667. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 137.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,811,787 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $958,538,000 after purchasing an additional 7,994,004 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $471,532,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1,579.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,673,400 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $185,534,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514,193 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,155,776 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $426,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,496,296 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $659,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,385 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Delta Air Lines this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results and demand resilience — Delta reported solid March?quarter metrics (EPS roughly in line/above consensus on several reports) and record passenger revenue, supporting confidence in its premium mix and cash generation. PR Newswire: Q1 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst price?target raises and bullish stances — UBS, TD Cowen, Raymond James, Argus, Citigroup and others lifted targets and maintained/raised Buy/Strong?Buy ratings, providing upside narrative for the stock. Benzinga: Analyst Moves
• Positive Sentiment: Refinery cushion — management says Delta’s Trainer refinery can meaningfully offset fuel pain (company cites up to ~$300M benefit in Q2 scenarios), which reduces the worst?case earnings hit versus peers. MSN: Refinery Benefit
• Positive Sentiment: Macro relief from Iran ceasefire / oil move — the temporary de?escalation sent oil lower and helped lift airline stocks, underpinning recent upside in DAL. MarketBeat: Ceasefire & Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusual options activity noted — elevated options flow can amplify intraday moves but is not a direct signal on fundamentals. AmericanBankingNews: Options Activity
• Negative Sentiment: Weak near?term profit guidance — Delta issued Q2 EPS guidance (~$1.00–$1.50) well below some street expectations, citing a roughly $2B incremental jet?fuel headwind that will pressure margins and prompted capacity cuts. MarketBeat: Q2 Guidance & Fuel Headwind
• Negative Sentiment: Cost responses and demand risks — Delta is hiking checked?bag fees and pulling planned capacity growth to offset fuel, actions that help near?term cash but could dent demand or revenue mix if fuel/geo risks persist. Yahoo: Baggage Fee Hike
• Negative Sentiment: Some analyst trims — Wolfe and Susquehanna lowered targets (and a few banks trimmed PTs slightly), reflecting varying views on fuel risk and guidance execution. TickerReport / Benzinga: PT Changes

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines is a major U.S.-based global airline that provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation, aircraft maintenance and repair services, and related travel products. Its operations include mainline domestic and international passenger services, a branded regional network operating under the Delta Connection name, dedicated air cargo carriage, and in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul through Delta TechOps. Delta offers a range of cabin products for different customer segments, including premium business-class service on long-haul routes and tiered economy offerings on domestic and international flights, and it markets customer loyalty benefits through the SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.

The carrier operates a mixed fleet of narrow- and wide-body aircraft from multiple U.S.