V Square Quantitative Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Key Points

• V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 93% during Q2, owning 20,477 shares valued at over $1 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Delta Air Lines, with firms like BNP Paribas Exane increasing targets from $58 to $70, reflecting a positive outlook.
• Delta Air Lines recently announced a $0.1875 quarterly dividend, with an annualized yield of 1.3%, set to be paid out on November 6th.

V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 93.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,477 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 9,865 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 161,395 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $7,037,000 after buying an additional 9,034 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,690,361 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $160,900,000 after buying an additional 92,772 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 152.3% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,567 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 7,586 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 39,374 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,670,000 after buying an additional 2,973 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 1,169.4% during the 1st quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,248 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 6,677 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on DAL. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Bernstein Bank raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.99.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $57.73 on Tuesday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The stock has a market cap of $37.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $58.11 and a 200 day moving average of $50.97. 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 (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. Delta Air Lines's revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 16th will be given 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 is Thursday, October 16th. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,550 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 191,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,948,567.98. This trade represents a 8.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of the firm's 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 owned 632,823 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 136,473 shares of company stock worth $7,663,496 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.