Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Stake Lessened by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,844 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 16,020 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,839,122 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $401,048,000 after buying an additional 865,746 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 17.1% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,091,528 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $188,514,000 after purchasing an additional 743,882 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 3.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,966,330 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $183,754,000 after purchasing an additional 145,513 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 27.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,813,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 4,434,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,400,000 after purchasing an additional 773,636 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price target for the company. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL stock opened at $49.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.41, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.18. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.60 and a fifty-two week high of $50.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The company had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 5.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,768 shares in the company, valued at $16,807,705.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,768 shares in the company, valued at $16,807,705.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Glen W. Hauenstein sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.05, for a total transaction of $4,905,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 217,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,672,495.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,913 shares of company stock worth $8,897,335 over the last ninety days. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.