Islay Capital Management LLC Takes $1.03 Million Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Islay Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 20,907 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,028,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter worth $386,364,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5,224.6% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,336,709 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $189,081,000 after buying an additional 4,255,262 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 149.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,963,882 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $246,487,000 after buying an additional 3,577,489 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 347.4% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,232,974 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $184,909,000 after buying an additional 3,286,741 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $122,849,000. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $151,750.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 14,010 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.25, for a total value of $858,112.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $968,730. The trade was a 46.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $2,463,585 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DAL. HSBC increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $69.20 to $73.70 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Seaport Global Securities raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $69.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.53.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL opened at $59.90 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.52. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.74 and a 52-week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 15th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 16th were issued a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 16th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.56%.

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.