American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 928,215 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 122,824 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $56,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE DAL opened at $48.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.29 and a 12 month high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.78 and a 200-day moving average of $58.27.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This represents a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on DAL. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.29.

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.