Blair William & Co. IL Boosts Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,628 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,138 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,924,506 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,179,508,000 after purchasing an additional 514,264 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $386,364,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 30.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,242,852 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $315,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,464 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 149.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,963,882 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $246,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,577,489 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 66.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,915,545 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $257,918,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,795 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $61.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $40.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.83. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.74 and a 12-month high of $69.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 15th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 23.83%. Equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 16th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DAL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Bernstein Bank raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Susquehanna Bancshares raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $51.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In related news, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 2,500 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $151,750.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,245 shares in the company, valued at $2,017,971.50. This trade represents a 6.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total transaction of $1,969,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 632,823 shares in the company, valued at $35,615,278.44. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.