Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 38,900 Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 38,900 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,565,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DAL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at about $60,640,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,396,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $129,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,504,544 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $73,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,810 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,700,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 27.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,813,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,957 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $47.57 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.60 and a 1 year high of $49.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.70 billion, a PE ratio of 6.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.43.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The firm had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.14%.

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.