AIA Group Ltd Acquires 30,900 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 65.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 77,805 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,900 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 495.7% in the third quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 685 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 396.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 720 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the period. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 55.2% during the third quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 874 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the third quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on DAL shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. TheStreet upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE:DAL traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $47.96. 9,631,284 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,866,848. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.15, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.60 and a 52-week high of $49.81. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.58.

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

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.14%.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $2,816,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.