Castle Hook Partners LP Takes $189.30 Million Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 3,727,037 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $189,296,000. Delta Air Lines accounts for 3.5% of Castle Hook Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DAL. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.83.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $63.60 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.46 and a 52-week high of $66.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.08 and a 200-day moving average of $49.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.39.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The business had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 8.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $3,830,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,775,004.27. This represents a 13.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total transaction of $1,077,017.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 121,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,739,564.86. The trade was a 13.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,240 shares of company stock valued at $8,044,893 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.