AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Increases Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 220,503 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 13,420 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $13,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the third quarter valued at approximately $341,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 32,379 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after buying an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 25,645 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 30.1% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 9,844 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 2,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 99.0% during the third quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 1,745 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of 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 reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL opened at $65.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.12 and a 200 day moving average of $55.38. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.43%. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,478.21. This trade represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 over the last 90 days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

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.