Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL)

by · The Markets Daily

Jefferies Financial Group restated their hold rating on shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL – Free Report) in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $46.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $85.00.

DAL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $71.49.

Get Our Latest Research Report on DAL

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 10.8 %

NYSE DAL opened at $38.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.26, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $37.29 and a 52 week high of $69.98.

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

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % 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, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $1,241,367.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,889 shares in the company, valued at $2,479,212.12. The trade was a 33.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 over the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 16.0% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 36,571 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after buying an additional 5,046 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,329,941 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $67,548,000 after acquiring an additional 147,438 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 54,542 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,770,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2,958.9% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 199,531 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,134,000 after purchasing an additional 193,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atom Investors LP bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the third quarter worth $950,000. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

About Delta Air Lines

(Get Free Report)

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.

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