Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Trims Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 220.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,600,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $346,008,000 after purchasing an additional 5,914,301 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,936,699 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $842,283,000 after acquiring an additional 1,689,053 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,056,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake 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 valued at $260,198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,221 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 96.1% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,487,387 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $119,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,074 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other news, Director Willie Cw Chiang bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were bought 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 owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $878,000. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $41.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.35. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.60 and a 1-year high of $53.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.94. The company has a market capitalization of $26.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 8.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.