Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 17,090 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 108.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,874 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 17,090 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,174 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $865,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,330 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 90,506 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 30,879 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 9,537 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DAL. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Dbs Bank lowered Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James decreased 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, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.08.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of DAL opened at $50.98 on Friday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.74 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The company has a market capitalization of $33.29 billion, a PE ratio of 9.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.64%.

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.