Patton Fund Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

• Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired 5,297 shares of Delta Air Lines, valued at approximately $261,000, indicating increased institutional interest in the airline's stock.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Delta Air Lines, with the average target now at $66.56, reflecting strong bullish sentiment in the market.
• Delta Air Lines announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1875 per share, with a payout ratio of 10.87%, highlighting the company's commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Patton Fund Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,297 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DAL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,174 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at $252,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 89,920 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $5,440,000 after acquiring an additional 5,820 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 22.3% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,420 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 329.3% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,593 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on DAL. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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 report on Monday, July 14th. Dbs Bank upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $64.00 to $69.20 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Bernstein Bank upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $66.56.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,003,684.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 191,442 shares in the company, valued at $10,948,567.98. This represents a 8.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total transaction of $1,969,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 632,823 shares of the company's stock, 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. Insiders sold 136,473 shares of company stock worth $7,663,496 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $57.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The firm's 50-day moving average is $58.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.84. The stock has a market cap of $37.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.51.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $16.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 16th. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio 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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