Delta Air Lines’ (DAL) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $46.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $85.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 5.46% from the stock’s previous close.

DAL has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of 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. Barclays decreased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL opened at $43.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.50 and a 200 day moving average of $58.38. The company has a market capitalization of $28.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines has a 12 month low of $37.29 and a 12 month high of $69.98. 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 (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,479,212.12. This trade represents a 33.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total transaction of $447,271.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,455.04. The trade was a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 414.4% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 535 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Delta Air Lines

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.