Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty-three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $99.8391.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DAL. Barclays lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $85.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 206,510 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.80, for a total transaction of $19,164,128.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,363,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,527,974.40. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 3,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.11, for a total transaction of $291,741.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 32,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,060,927.75. The trade was a 8.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 356,726 shares of company stock worth $33,081,037 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Advus Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter worth about $226,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,829,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8,578.7% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 18,516,676 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,734,272,000 after purchasing an additional 18,303,318 shares during the last quarter. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $211,000. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $838,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 2.1%

DAL opened at $76.38 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $50.23 billion, a PE ratio of 12.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.29. Delta Air Lines has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $95.68.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The transportation company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The business had revenue of $17.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.215 per share. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.26%.

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.