Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Lowers Stock Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 38.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,731 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 11,566 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $4,380,820,000 after acquiring an additional 456,465 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,800,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,932 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $968,234,000 after buying an additional 410,648 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $918,419,000 after buying an additional 46,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,090,209 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $670,994,000 after buying an additional 92,208 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. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $60.00 target price on Delta Air Lines and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group set a $66.00 price objective on Delta Air Lines and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $46.00 target price (down from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.67.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of DAL traded down $1.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,877,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,772,620. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.74 and a 12-month high of $69.98. The stock has a market cap of $31.57 billion, a PE ratio of 8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company's 50 day moving average is $47.12 and its 200 day moving average is $53.59.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 28.18%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a $0.1875 dividend. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.64%.

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.