Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,212 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,318 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DAL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,640,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,396,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $129,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504,544 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 211.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,127,687 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $73,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,810 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Delta Air Lines by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,700,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,578 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 27.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,813,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Susquehanna upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Thursday. TheStreet raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.29.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $2,816,128.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL opened at $46.86 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.35. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.60 and a 52-week high of $49.81. The company has a market cap of $30.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.02, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The firm had revenue of $13.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. Delta Air Lines’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 5.14%.

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.