Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 71.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 49,941 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,845 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $2,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 145.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,618,627 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $105,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550,770 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 27.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,813,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,957 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 8.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,839,122 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $401,048,000 after acquiring an additional 865,746 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 541.2% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 998,156 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $36,932,000 after acquiring an additional 842,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 4,434,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,400,000 after acquiring an additional 773,636 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DAL shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Susquehanna raised 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated 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 equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of DAL opened at $49.90 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $44.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.43. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.60 and a 1-year high of $49.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. Analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 24,073 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.86, for a total value of $1,176,206.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,451 shares in the company, valued at $6,911,295.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,913 shares of company stock valued at $8,897,335 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

About Delta Air Lines

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.