Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Receives $80.85 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $81.0542.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on DAL shares. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $84.16 on Friday. Delta Air Lines has a twelve month low of $45.28 and a twelve month high of $87.39. The stock has a market cap of $55.29 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.03. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The company had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $0.215 dividend. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John E. Laughter sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.61, for a total value of $1,074,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 54,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,893,364.09. This represents a 21.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.44, for a total value of $2,036,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 95,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,738,836. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 149,635 shares of company stock valued at $10,833,855 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,211,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,680,249,000 after buying an additional 1,012,265 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,163,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,607,557,000 after purchasing an additional 165,729 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,413,841 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,215,766,000 after purchasing an additional 202,865 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 137.4% in the 4th 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,310,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $854,370,000 after buying an additional 56,455 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Delta Air Lines News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Delta’s board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2150 per share, about 15% above prior levels, signaling confidence in cash flow and rewarding investors. Delta Air Lines Declares Quarterly Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Lower crude prices are helping airline stocks, including Delta, by easing fuel-cost pressure and improving near-term margins. Popular Airline Stock Continues Higher on Lower Crude Costs
• Positive Sentiment: The U.S. government closed its investigation into Delta’s handling of the CrowdStrike outage, removing a legal and reputational overhang that had affected investor sentiment. Trump Administration Clears Delta in CrowdStrike Outage Probe, Ends Investigation Into Travel Meltdown That Impacted 1.3 Million Passengers
• Positive Sentiment: Delta also announced a fleet-efficiency upgrade, planning to install VCT finlets across 240 Boeing 737NG aircraft, which could help reduce fuel burn and operating costs over time. Delta Advances Fleet Efficiency with VCT Finlets Across 737NG Fleet

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

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.