Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 57,094 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,029 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $2,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 220.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,600,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $346,008,000 after buying an additional 5,914,301 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,936,699 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $842,283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,053 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth about $65,056,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 145.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,618,627 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $105,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 6,467,749 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $260,198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DAL. HSBC started coverage on Delta Air Lines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.80 target price for the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, Director Willie Cw Chiang purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $43.90 per share, for a total transaction of $439,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $878,000. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $40.15 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $44.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.91. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.60 and a 12-month high of $53.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.78, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The transportation company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.37 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $15.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.45 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 36.02% and a net margin of 7.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.26 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. This is a boost from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 30th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.63%.

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.