Blair William & Co. IL Buys 1,068 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,850 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 36,891 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,232,000 after buying an additional 8,707 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 45,820 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,772,000 after acquiring an additional 6,564 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter worth $272,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 656,703 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $38,745,000 after purchasing an additional 22,771 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Delta Air Lines news, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL opened at $43.38 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $57.49 and a 200 day moving average of $58.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.14, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.