ABC Arbitrage SA Buys Shares of 25,424 Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 25,424 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $1,538,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $13,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,802 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 143.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,876,000 after acquiring an additional 33,378 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 32.6% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $8,888,000 after acquiring an additional 43,000 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,036,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 22.8% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 24,249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Delta Air Lines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL stock traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.04. The company had a trading volume of 7,613,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,158,825. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $37.29 and a one year high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $64.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.05.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. Delta Air Lines's revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th 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 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.26%.

Delta Air Lines Company 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.