BNP Paribas Exane Cuts Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Price Target to $81.00

24 Apr 2026, 05:44 by Tristan Rich · The Markets Daily

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL – Free Report) had its price objective cut by BNP Paribas Exane from $85.00 to $81.00 in a report published on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on DAL. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.20 to $79.30 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Seaport Research Partners upped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.10.

View Our Latest Analysis on Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 0.0%

DAL opened at $68.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.61. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $76.39.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The transportation company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 20.28%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.93%.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 38,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.05, for a total transaction of $2,896,930.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 104,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,835,520.20. This represents a 26.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.26, for a total transaction of $7,026,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,363,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,795,856.48. This represents a 6.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 353,611 shares of company stock valued at $25,182,798 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,211,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,680,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012,265 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,163,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,607,557,000 after acquiring an additional 165,729 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,413,841 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,215,766,000 after acquiring an additional 202,865 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 137.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,811,787 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $958,538,000 after acquiring an additional 7,994,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,310,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $854,370,000 after acquiring an additional 56,455 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Delta Air Lines

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

Positive Sentiment: Board declares quarterly dividend of $0.1875/share, payable June 4 — signals cash-return discipline and may support investor confidence. Article Title
Positive Sentiment: Analyst notes that Delta and United can benefit from rivals cutting capacity amid high fuel costs — less competition could support yields and unit revenue. Article Title
Positive Sentiment: Industry leaders warning that “cheap fares” are ending suggests pricing power that could boost incumbent carriers’ margins if demand holds. Article Title
Neutral Sentiment: Peer results and guidance (Southwest, United, American) are mixed: Southwest beat revenue estimates but fuel pressures persist; United trimmed guidance because of fuel — useful comparables for Delta’s outlook but not direct Delta news. Article Title
Neutral Sentiment: JetBlue lawsuit over alleged “surveillance pricing” draws congressional attention to airline pricing practices; Delta has also faced inquiries — regulatory scrutiny could increase compliance costs or reputational risk. Article Title
Negative Sentiment: Global jet fuel crisis (linked to the Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz disruptions) is pushing jet fuel and oil prices higher—this increases Delta’s operating costs and could compress margins if fuel surcharges and fares don’t fully offset the hit. Article Title
Negative Sentiment: Airlines are cancelling summer flights and issuing refunds amid the oil/route disruptions — operational disruption and lost revenue days can hit near-term results. Article Title
Negative Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane issued a pessimistic forecast for DAL, and a reported insider sale (large stake reduction) may add selling pressure or raise governance/insider-confidence questions. Article Title

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.