State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Increases Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 58,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 9,470 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $13,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,802 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 143.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,876,000 after buying an additional 33,378 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 32.6% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after buying an additional 43,000 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth about $2,036,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after acquiring an additional 24,249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective 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. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL opened at $65.04 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.29 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The stock has a market cap of $42.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

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, topping 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 company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

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.