Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $74.10 and last traded at $74.2850, with a volume of 3747938 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $69.78.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DAL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, December 19th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $72.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-two have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.47.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 7.5%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 13th. The transportation company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $14.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.80 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 7.90%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.900 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 6.500-7.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Peter W. Carter sold 14,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.30, for a total value of $1,005,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 177,142 shares in the company, valued at $12,453,082.60. This represents a 7.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 173,230 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $12,299,330.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 632,823 shares in the company, valued at $44,930,433. The trade was a 21.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 357,210 shares of company stock valued at $25,148,440 over the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,572,577 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,667,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,648,071 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,059,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,134,083,000 after purchasing an additional 581,421 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,757,932 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $822,127,000 after buying an additional 527,570 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 23.3% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,661,911 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $434,813,000 after buying an additional 1,447,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,012,856 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $295,712,000 after buying an additional 48,974 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

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.