Atom Investors LP Acquires New Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Atom Investors LP bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 18,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $950,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the third quarter valued at $189,296,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the second quarter valued at $60,217,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,933,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $471,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,414,074,000 after acquiring an additional 749,099 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on DAL shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total transaction of $1,077,017.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 121,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,739,564.86. This represents a 13.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $3,830,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,775,004.27. This trade represents a 13.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL opened at $62.56 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.64. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.34 and a 12 month high of $66.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $15.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.03 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 8.33%.

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.