Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Stock Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 58.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 449,679 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 165,192 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.07% of Delta Air Lines worth $18,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,700,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,578 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,150,815 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,053,050,000 after acquiring an additional 498,172 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,168,804 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $459,144,000 after acquiring an additional 351,286 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,839,122 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $401,048,000 after acquiring an additional 865,746 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,091,528 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $188,514,000 after acquiring an additional 743,882 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,768 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.89% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE DAL traded up $0.56 on Thursday, hitting $47.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,597,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,256,826. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.60 and a 1-year high of $49.81. The company's 50-day moving average is $41.49 and its 200 day moving average is $38.69. The firm has a market cap of $30.80 billion, a PE ratio of 6.70, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.42.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 12th. The transportation company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.11. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 46.35%. The company had revenue of $14.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.48 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.59%.

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.