Virtu Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 11,069 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 137.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,811,787 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $958,538,000 after acquiring an additional 7,994,004 shares during the period. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth $471,532,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,155,776 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $426,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890,521 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,496,296 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $659,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $124,444,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Delta Air Lines

Here are the key news stories impacting Delta Air Lines this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Delta Air Lines to $93 from $78 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling confidence in upside from current levels. Article: Bank of America raises Delta price target
• Positive Sentiment: Argus also boosted its price target on DAL to $100 from $85 and maintained a buy rating, reinforcing the bullish analyst outlook. Article: Argus raises Delta price target
• Positive Sentiment: Delta shareholders backed the existing board and governance structure at the annual meeting, reducing uncertainty around corporate oversight. Article: Delta shareholders back board, governance status quo
• Positive Sentiment: Delta approved a 15% increase in its quarterly dividend, a sign management is confident in cash generation and financial strength. Article: Delta lifts dividend 15% while upgrading 737s
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a new large position in Delta Air Lines, adding an influential long-term investor to the shareholder base. Article: Berkshire buys Delta stake

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $86.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $75.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.44. The company has a market capitalization of $56.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.30. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.28 and a fifty-two week high of $87.39.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The transportation company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 6.87%.The company had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.215 dividend. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DAL. TD Cowen raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $88.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.30.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP John E. Laughter sold 69,304 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.15, for a total transaction of $4,723,067.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 69,369 shares in the company, valued at $4,727,497.35. The trade was a 49.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 9,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $737,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 138,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,552,904. This represents a 6.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 149,635 shares of company stock valued at $10,833,855. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

Delta Air Lines is a major U.S.-based global airline that provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation, aircraft maintenance and repair services, and related travel products. Its operations include mainline domestic and international passenger services, a branded regional network operating under the Delta Connection name, dedicated air cargo carriage, and in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul through Delta TechOps. Delta offers a range of cabin products for different customer segments, including premium business-class service on long-haul routes and tiered economy offerings on domestic and international flights, and it markets customer loyalty benefits through the SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.

The carrier operates a mixed fleet of narrow- and wide-body aircraft from multiple U.S.