Paragon Capital Management Ltd Buys Shares of 4,782 Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Paragon Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 4,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter worth $386,364,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $189,081,000 after purchasing an additional 4,255,262 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 149.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,963,882 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $246,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,577,489 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 347.4% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,232,974 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $184,909,000 after purchasing an additional 3,286,741 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings 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 worth $144,273,000 after purchasing an additional 3,098,237 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL opened at $57.13 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.80. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.74 and a 12-month high of $69.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $37.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.51.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 24.86% and a net margin of 7.24%.The firm had revenue of $15.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 16th will be given a $0.1875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DAL. Barclays increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group set a $72.00 price target on Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total value of $1,969,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 45,423 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.56, for a total value of $2,523,701.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 131,731 shares in the company, valued at $7,318,974.36. This represents a 25.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 136,473 shares of company stock worth $7,663,496 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Company 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.