Independent Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 11,330 Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 11,330 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of DAL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,174 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $555,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter valued at about $178,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $555,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 102.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,825 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 357,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 58,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,859,000 after acquiring an additional 5,564 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.44, for a total value of $2,036,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 95,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,738,836. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 9,710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $737,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 138,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,552,904. This trade represents a 6.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 65,331 shares of company stock worth $5,036,638 in the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL stock opened at $84.61 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $55.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.29. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.44 and a 52-week high of $95.68.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The transportation company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.07. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 5.79%.The company had revenue of $17.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.215 dividend. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 14.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.40.

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines is a major U.S.-based global airline that provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation, aircraft maintenance and repair services, and related travel products. Its operations include mainline domestic and international passenger services, a branded regional network operating under the Delta Connection name, dedicated air cargo carriage, and in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul through Delta TechOps. Delta offers a range of cabin products for different customer segments, including premium business-class service on long-haul routes and tiered economy offerings on domestic and international flights, and it markets customer loyalty benefits through the SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.

The carrier operates a mixed fleet of narrow- and wide-body aircraft from multiple U.S.