Invesco Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 30.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,242,852 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,681,464 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $315,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DAL. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5,224.6% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,336,709 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $189,081,000 after buying an additional 4,255,262 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1,469.9% during the 1st quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 3,309,020 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $144,273,000 after buying an additional 3,098,237 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 405.3% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,054,285 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $184,784,000 after buying an additional 2,449,874 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 66.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,915,545 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $257,918,000 after buying an additional 2,370,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at about $93,747,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna set a $65.00 target price on Delta Air Lines and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group set a $72.00 target price on Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Monday, July 14th. HSBC raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $64.00 to $69.20 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Bernstein Bank raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.21.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 0.2%

DAL opened at $53.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.28. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.74 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.56.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.24% and a return on equity of 24.86%. The business had revenue of $15,507,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a $0.1875 dividend. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is 10.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total value of $1,969,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 632,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,615,278.44. This trade represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.96, for a total transaction of $1,007,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 97,505 shares in the company, valued at $5,456,379.80. This trade represents a 15.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 133,973 shares of company stock valued at $7,511,746. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.