Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 410,648 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 410,648 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.47% of Delta Air Lines worth $968,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,380,820,000 after purchasing an additional 456,465 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at $328,398,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,597,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $217,654,000 after acquiring an additional 100,102 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,544,750 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $214,457,000 after acquiring an additional 274,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $152,342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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 report on Wednesday. Raymond James cut their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 target price (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. The trade was a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of DAL stock opened at $43.38 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $57.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.26. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.29 and a 12-month high of $69.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. Delta Air Lines’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

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.