Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Position Increased by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 90,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $4,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DAL. Senator Investment Group LP raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 90.0% during the 2nd quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 475,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $22,534,000 after purchasing an additional 225,000 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,644,000 after acquiring an additional 13,802 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 143.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,876,000 after acquiring an additional 33,378 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after acquiring an additional 43,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 24,249 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on DAL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.83.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 7,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.62, for a total transaction of $470,276.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,688,130.14. This represents a 11.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total value of $173,128.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 108,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,499,635.40. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893 in the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL opened at $63.82 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $36.19 and a one year high of $66.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $56.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.50. The company has a market capitalization of $41.18 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $15.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.33%.

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.