Brokerages Set Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Price Target at $66.21

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.2056.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DAL shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total transaction of $1,969,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 632,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,615,278.44. This trade represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.96, for a total value of $1,007,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 97,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,456,379.80. The trade was a 15.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 136,473 shares of company stock valued at $7,663,496 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the second quarter valued at $739,000. State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 178.4% in the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 11,402 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 7,306 shares during the last quarter. L1 Capital Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter valued at $519,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 14.0% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,257 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter valued at $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $61.6320 on Monday. Delta Air Lines has a 1-year low of $34.74 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The company has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.93, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 24.86% and a net margin of 7.24%.The firm had revenue of $15,507,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. Delta Air Lines’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.87%.

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.