Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Given New $60.00 Price Target at The Goldman Sachs Group

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its target price cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $83.00 to $60.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

DAL has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 target price (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.77.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL stock opened at $43.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.26. 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 12-month low of $37.29 and a 12-month high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,304,291.12. This represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,380,820,000 after buying an additional 456,465 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,800,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,932 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $968,234,000 after purchasing an additional 410,648 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $918,419,000 after purchasing an additional 46,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,090,209 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $670,994,000 after purchasing an additional 92,208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

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.