Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on DAL. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup cut their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $76.29.

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Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL traded down $2.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.80. The stock had a trading volume of 15,126,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,046,107. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Delta Air Lines has a 12-month low of $37.29 and a 12-month high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.18.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. Delta Air Lines's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Delta Air Lines's payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at $1,304,291.12. The trade was a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last 90 days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 2,150 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,555 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Mason & Associates Inc lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 5,088 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,298 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $865,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.