First Financial Bank Trust Division Makes New Investment in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

• First Financial Bank Trust Division has acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines, purchasing 4,571 shares valued at approximately $225,000 in the 2nd quarter.
• Institutional investors now hold 69.93% of Delta Air Lines' stock, with significant increases in holdings from firms like Vanguard and AQR Capital Management.
• Delta Air Lines announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1875 per share, reflecting a positive change from its previous dividend, and a total annualized dividend of $0.75.

First Financial Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,571 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 30.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,242,852 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $315,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,464 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 149.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,963,882 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $246,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,577,489 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 66.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,915,545 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $257,918,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5,224.6% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,336,709 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $189,081,000 after purchasing an additional 4,255,262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DAL. Susquehanna set a $65.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Bernstein Bank boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $66.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value 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. This represents a 6.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,550 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 191,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,948,567.98. This represents a 8.40% 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 worth $7,663,496 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $59.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.54. The company has a market cap of $39.14 billion, a PE ratio of 8.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.51.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $15.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.87%.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

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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