Norges Bank Invests $152.34 Million in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Norges Bank bought a new position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,518,046 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,342,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth about $2,036,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $789,452,000 after acquiring an additional 416,338 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,593,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 562.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 11,260 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $681,000 after acquiring an additional 9,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 23,657 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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 trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,455.04. This represents a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 0.5 %

DAL stock opened at $43.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $28.20 billion, a PE ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.29 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

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