Korea Investment CORP Grows Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 138.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 197,094 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 114,608 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $8,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Corient IA LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the first quarter valued at about $218,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 50.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,607,906 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $70,105,000 after acquiring an additional 540,524 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.6% during the first quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 59,466 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,593,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 40.1% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,300,516 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $56,703,000 after acquiring an additional 372,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 58.4% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 184,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,932,000 after acquiring an additional 68,079 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 6.6%

NYSE:DAL opened at $61.6320 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.56. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $34.74 and a one year high of $69.98. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.38.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15,507,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.16 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 24.86% and a net margin of 7.24%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $0.1875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 10.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 18,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.96, for a total value of $1,007,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 97,505 shares in the company, valued at $5,456,379.80. The trade was a 15.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total value of $1,969,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 632,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,615,278.44. The trade was a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 136,473 shares of company stock valued at $7,663,496 over the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Susquehanna set a $65.00 target price on Delta Air Lines and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $66.21.

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.