Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires 540,524 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 50.6%, owning approximately 1.6 million shares worth $70 million at the end of the 1st quarter.
• Delta Air Lines recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.1875 per share, reflecting a 1.3% dividend yield for shareholders.
• Several brokerages upgraded Delta Air Lines' stock ratings, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $66.21.

Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 50.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,607,906 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 540,524 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Delta Air Lines worth $70,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 44.2% in the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 584 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 52,725 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $3,190,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 1,791 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 21,148 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,296,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, one8zero8 LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DAL. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.21.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE:DAL traded up $3.7920 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $61.6320. 10,298,637 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,192,062. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.56. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $53.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.38. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15,507,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.16 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 24.86% and a net margin of 7.24%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $0.1875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. 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. Delta Air Lines's payout ratio is presently 10.87%.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 18,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was 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 directly owned 97,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,456,379.80. The trade was a 15.58% 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 Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total value of $1,969,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 632,823 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,615,278.44. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 136,473 shares of company stock worth $7,663,496. Corporate insiders own 0.88% 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.