GMT Capital Corp Reduces Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

• GMT Capital Corp reduced its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.0%, holding 5,351,600 shares valued at $233.33 million, making it the company's largest holding.
• Delta Air Lines recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.1875 per share, marking a rise from the previous $0.15, with an annualized yield of 1.2%.
• Analysts have boosted their price targets for Delta Air Lines, with estimates now ranging up to $72.00, indicating growing confidence in the company’s stock performance.

GMT Capital Corp reduced its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,351,600 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 110,000 shares during the period. Delta Air Lines accounts for about 12.4% of GMT Capital Corp's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. GMT Capital Corp owned 0.82% of Delta Air Lines worth $233,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $3,179,508,000 after buying an additional 514,264 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 30.2% during 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $257,918,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,795 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 1,019,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5,224.6% in 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other news, 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 transaction of $151,750.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 in the company, valued at approximately $35,615,278.44. The trade was a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 136,473 shares of company stock valued at $7,663,496. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on DAL shares. Susquehanna Bancshares lifted their price objective 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. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.21.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:DAL traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $61.16. The company had a trading volume of 6,923,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,517,334. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.51.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 EPS 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 company had revenue of $15.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio is 10.87%.

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.