Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 38,900 Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 38,900 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,565,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,700,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,578 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,652,643 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $756,110,000 after acquiring an additional 579,727 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,168,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $459,144,000 after acquiring an additional 351,286 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,839,122 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $401,048,000 after acquiring an additional 865,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,091,528 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $188,514,000 after buying an additional 743,882 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased 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 note on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $47.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $30.70 billion, a PE ratio of 6.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.43. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.60 and a 52-week high of $49.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The company’s 50 day moving average is $44.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.72.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $13.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.14%.

About Delta Air Lines

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.