Brokerages Set Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Price Target at $62.08

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.08.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE:DAL opened at $50.98 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.83 and its 200-day moving average is $54.96. The company has a market cap of $33.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.56, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. Delta Air Lines has a 52-week low of $34.74 and a 52-week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.64%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 123.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,392 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 5,194 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 894,143 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $54,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 50.2% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 33,207 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,009,000 after purchasing an additional 11,097 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 30,879 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 9,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestline Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 147.6% during the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 124,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,509,000 after purchasing an additional 73,983 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.