Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL Shares Purchased by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 0.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,012,856 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 48,974 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $295,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DAL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $386,364,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 347.4% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,232,974 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $184,909,000 after purchasing an additional 3,286,741 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,572,577 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,667,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648,071 shares during the last quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,960,000. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the first quarter worth $27,923,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on DAL shares. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $63.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-one have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.08.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $69.82 on Friday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.74 and a 12 month high of $71.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.99.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 15th. The transportation company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 23.83%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 16th were issued a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 16th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 10.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP John E. Laughter sold 23,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.33, for a total transaction of $1,453,722.59. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 81,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,055,523.97. The trade was a 22.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 14,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.25, for a total value of $858,112.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $968,730. This trade represents a 46.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.