Mount Lucas Management LP Has $3.21 Million Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Mount Lucas Management LP lowered its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 53,037 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 5,776 shares during the quarter. Delta Air Lines comprises 1.1% of Mount Lucas Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Mount Lucas Management LP’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DAL. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 5.4% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $13,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,802 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 143.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,876,000 after buying an additional 33,378 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,036,000. New Millennium Group LLC boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 314.0% in the third quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 36,460 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,852,000 after acquiring an additional 27,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $789,452,000 after acquiring an additional 416,338 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $53.18 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $34.38 billion, a PE ratio of 9.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.29 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $63.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.88.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This represents a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 over the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.