National Pension Service Grows Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

National Pension Service increased its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 184.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,048 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $4,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 90.6% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 444 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Accredited Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1,983.3% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. SWAN Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1,016.0% in the 3rd quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 558 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, Camelot Portfolios LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Argus raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research raised Delta Air Lines from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.20 to $79.30 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.85.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL stock opened at $81.45 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $53.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.30. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.28 and a 1 year high of $83.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $70.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.22.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The transportation company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 6.87%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be paid a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.93%.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP John E. Laughter sold 69,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.15, for a total value of $4,723,067.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 69,369 shares in the company, valued at $4,727,497.35. This trade represents a 49.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 25,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.44, for a total value of $2,036,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 95,025 shares in the company, valued at $7,738,836. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 149,635 shares of company stock worth $10,833,855 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines is a major U.S.-based global airline that provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation, aircraft maintenance and repair services, and related travel products. Its operations include mainline domestic and international passenger services, a branded regional network operating under the Delta Connection name, dedicated air cargo carriage, and in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul through Delta TechOps. Delta offers a range of cabin products for different customer segments, including premium business-class service on long-haul routes and tiered economy offerings on domestic and international flights, and it markets customer loyalty benefits through the SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.

The carrier operates a mixed fleet of narrow- and wide-body aircraft from multiple U.S.