Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 58,634 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 1,838 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,380,820,000 after acquiring an additional 456,465 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $789,452,000 after purchasing an additional 416,338 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $328,398,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,597,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $217,654,000 after purchasing an additional 100,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,544,750 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $214,457,000 after buying an additional 274,067 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on DAL shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price target (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $42.38 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $27.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 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 up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

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.