Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Grows Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 150.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 676,505 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 406,414 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. owned 0.10% of Delta Air Lines worth $29,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 414.4% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 535 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 584 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on DAL. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Bernstein Bank upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Susquehanna set a $65.00 price target on Delta Air Lines and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.21.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $61.16 on Tuesday. 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 0.74, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The business's fifty day moving average price is $52.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.93 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.56.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 $15,507,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio is 10.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,003,684.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 191,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,948,567.98. This trade represents a 8.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total value of $1,969,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 632,823 shares in the company, valued at $35,615,278.44. This trade represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,973 shares of company stock valued at $7,511,746 over 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.

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