American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 928,215 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 122,824 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.14% of Delta Air Lines worth $56,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DAL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $789,452,000 after acquiring an additional 416,338 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $328,398,000. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $189,296,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,597,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $217,654,000 after buying an additional 100,102 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,544,750 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $214,457,000 after buying an additional 274,067 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 1.3 %

DAL stock opened at $48.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.27. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.29 and a 12 month high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of 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. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total transaction of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $660,455.04. This represents a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines 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.