BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Lowers Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S significantly reduced its stake in Delta Air Lines, lowering its holdings by 88.7% to 7,690 shares worth approximately $335,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Bank of New York Mellon Corp, increased their positions in Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter, indicating continued interest in the company.
• Delta Air Lines recently declared an increased quarterly dividend of $0.1875 per share, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.15 and a yield of 1.2%.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S trimmed its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 88.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,690 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 60,460 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,924,506 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,179,508,000 after purchasing an additional 514,264 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised 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 lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 66.9% during 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,182,789 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $313,559,000 after acquiring an additional 447,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 4,746,535 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $287,165,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,498 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total value of $1,003,684.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 191,442 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total value of $1,969,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 632,823 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,615,278.44. This trade represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 136,473 shares of company stock worth $7,663,496 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $61.6320 on Friday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.93, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.56. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $53.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.88.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15,507,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.16 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.24% and a return on equity of 24.86%. Delta Air Lines's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna Bancshares upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $51.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Bernstein Bank increased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $66.21.

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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