EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,683 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DAL. FMR LLC grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,779,351 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $516,095,000 after purchasing an additional 3,445,953 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $60,640,000. Amundi grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,396,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $129,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,504,544 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 211.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,127,687 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $73,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,810 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,700,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,578 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Delta Air Lines in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Delta Air Lines from $51.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday. 22nd Century Group reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $57.50.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL opened at $39.90 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.20 and a 52-week high of $49.81.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 13th. The transportation company reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.28. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 59.56% and a net margin of 5.36%. The business had revenue of $15.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 12,129 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.52, for a total value of $552,112.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,901,428.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 12,129 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.52, for a total value of $552,112.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,901,428.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 3,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.43, for a total value of $162,240.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,465 shares in the company, valued at $1,330,129.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,479 shares of company stock valued at $1,839,353 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.89% 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, Mexico City, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and Seoul-Incheon.