AQR Capital Management LLC Acquires 3,577,489 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC has increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 149.9% in the first quarter, owning approximately $246.49 million worth of shares.
• Several analysts have raised their target prices for Delta Air Lines, with a consensus target price of $66.21, reflecting a generally positive outlook on the stock.
• Delta Air Lines recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.1875 per share, representing a yield of 1.2%, which is an increase from the previous dividend of $0.15.

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 149.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,963,882 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,577,489 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.91% of Delta Air Lines worth $246,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,924,506 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,179,508,000 after buying an additional 514,264 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 30.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,242,852 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $315,788,000 after buying an additional 1,681,464 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 66.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,915,545 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $257,918,000 after buying an additional 2,370,795 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 4,746,535 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $287,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019,498 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5,224.6% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,336,709 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $189,081,000 after purchasing an additional 4,255,262 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. HSBC increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $64.00 to $69.20 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Susquehanna set a $65.00 price target on Delta Air Lines and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.21.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:DAL traded down $0.10 on Monday, hitting $61.09. 3,735,804 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,411,941. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.74 and a 52 week high of $69.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.47. The company has a market cap of $39.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.83, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.51.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 24.86% and a net margin of 7.24%.The firm had revenue of $15.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio is 10.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 45,423 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.56, for a total value of $2,523,701.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 131,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,318,974.36. This trade represents a 25.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 2,500 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $151,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 33,245 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,017,971.50. The trade was a 6.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 136,473 shares of company stock worth $7,663,496 in the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.