Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Stake Increased by Highland Capital Management LLC

Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,136 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,812 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $7,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth $60,640,000. Amundi increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,396,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $129,679,000 after buying an additional 1,504,544 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 211.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,127,687 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $73,661,000 after buying an additional 1,443,810 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,700,032,000 after buying an additional 1,267,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 27.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,813,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $178,112,000 after buying an additional 1,022,957 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $47.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $30.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.62, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.28 and a 200-day moving average of $38.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.60 and a 1-year high of $49.81.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 12th. The transportation company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $14.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.55 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 46.35%. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $2,816,128.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,807,705.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on DAL. TheStreet raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $55.79.

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.