Perpetual Ltd Reduces Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd has reduced its stake in Delta Air Lines by 41.0%, selling 11,925 shares and leaving it with 17,153 shares valued at approximately $844,000.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Delta Air Lines, with several firms issuing buy ratings and the average price target now at $66.56.
• Insiders sold a total of 136,473 shares valued at $7,663,496 in the last three months, indicating a slight decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Perpetual Ltd reduced its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 41.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,153 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 11,925 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Continuum Advisory LLC raised 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 1.2% during the first quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 16,403 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $715,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. one8zero8 LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.1% in the first quarter. one8zero8 LLC now owns 21,405 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 5.0% in the first quarter. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV now owns 5,199 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, E&G Advisors LP raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 1.4% during the first quarter. E&G Advisors LP now owns 17,550 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Susquehanna Bancshares raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $51.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $66.56.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DAL traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $59.83. The company had a trading volume of 15,277,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,434,509. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $39.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.54. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.74 and a twelve month high of $69.98.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $151,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 33,245 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,017,971.50. The trade was a 6.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.96, for a total value of $1,007,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 97,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,456,379.80. This represents a 15.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 136,473 shares of company stock valued at $7,663,496 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

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.