Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Invests $377,000 in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,230 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at approximately $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at $189,296,000. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,414,074,000 after purchasing an additional 749,099 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 419.5% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 562,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,551,000 after acquiring an additional 453,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 325.7% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 592,808 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,865,000 after acquiring an additional 453,547 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DAL shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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 report on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In related news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at $660,455.04. This trade represents a 40.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:DAL opened at $60.09 on Friday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.29 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $64.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.21. The company has a market capitalization of $38.85 billion, a PE ratio of 11.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.36. 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 posted 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.26%.

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.