River Road Asset Management LLC Acquires 435,452 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 245.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 613,068 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 435,452 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Delta Air Lines worth $24,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,329 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 132.3% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 466,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $18,777,000 after buying an additional 265,852 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth about $4,241,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 325.5% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 77,647 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,124,000 after buying an additional 59,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 4,434,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $178,400,000 after acquiring an additional 773,636 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DAL. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet upgraded Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Delta Air Lines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 0.5 %

DAL stock opened at $48.10 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $30.60 and a one year high of $49.81. The stock has a market cap of $31.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.58. 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 (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 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 dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following 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 SEC, which is available through this link. 0.89% of the stock is 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.