First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,740 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $392,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DAL. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,839,122 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $401,048,000 after buying an additional 865,746 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 17.1% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,091,528 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $188,514,000 after purchasing an additional 743,882 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,966,330 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $183,754,000 after purchasing an additional 145,513 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake 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 worth $178,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 4,434,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,400,000 after buying an additional 773,636 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price 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. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective 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, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $58.29.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In related news, Director Willie Cw Chiang bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $49.50 per share, for a total transaction of $495,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Willie Cw Chiang bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $49.50 per share, with a total value of $495,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $495,000. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Glen W. Hauenstein sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.05, for a total value of $4,905,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 217,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,672,495.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 174,073 shares of company stock worth $8,581,207 over the last ninety days. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $52.93 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.95. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.60 and a 52 week high of $53.00. The stock has a market cap of $33.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 41.89% and a net margin of 8.48%. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.