Ascent Group LLC Invests $217,000 in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Ascent Group LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,936,699 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $842,283,000 after buying an additional 1,689,053 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,030,836 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $719,526,000 after acquiring an additional 49,712 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 12.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,933,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $471,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,674 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 220.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,914,301 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 27.0% in the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, Director Willie Cw Chiang acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $43.90 per share, for a total transaction of $439,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $878,000. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DAL. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price 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. BNP Paribas raised Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.52.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 1.7 %

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $49.95 on Wednesday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.60 and a 12 month high of $53.86. The company has a market capitalization of $32.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.65. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The transportation company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $15.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 8.63%.

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.