Baird Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 65,289 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DAL. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,525 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,894 shares during the period. 140 Summer Partners LP purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth about $66,627,000. Wahed Invest LLC grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 4,167 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 64,811 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after purchasing an additional 6,589 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 60.7% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 320,572 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $19,395,000 after purchasing an additional 121,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.37.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE DAL opened at $48.28 on Friday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year 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 market capitalization of $31.52 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.06 and a 200 day moving average of $56.39.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.88% of the stock is currently 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.