Ethic Inc. Acquires New Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Ethic Inc. acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,828 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,380,820,000 after buying an additional 456,465 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,800,754,000 after buying an additional 1,922,932 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $968,234,000 after buying an additional 410,648 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $918,419,000 after purchasing an additional 46,101 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,090,209 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $670,994,000 after purchasing an additional 92,208 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DAL. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.42.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $50.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.28. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.74 and a 52 week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.64%.

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.