Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $78.22.

DAL has been the topic of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 7,510 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.62, for a total transaction of $470,276.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 58,897 shares in the company, valued at $3,688,130.14. This trade represents a 11.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,197,608.72. This trade represents a 52.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 139,429 shares of company stock valued at $9,339,519. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter worth approximately $189,296,000. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,414,074,000 after acquiring an additional 749,099 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 419.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 562,129 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $28,551,000 after acquiring an additional 453,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 592,808 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $35,865,000 after acquiring an additional 453,547 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Delta Air Lines stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $68.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,380,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,989,042. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $63.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.25 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.35. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.43%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

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.