O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 84,999 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,024 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $5,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Hemington Wealth Management grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 price target (down from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.77.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $43.38 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $28.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $37.29 and a one year high of $69.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.26.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the 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 $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total transaction of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,455.04. This represents a 40.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.