Park Avenue Securities LLC Boosts Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 32.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,831 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 3,593 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 13.8% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,645 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 1,412 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,357 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 6.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,198 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DAL. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total value of $3,830,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,775,004.27. The trade was a 13.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 7,510 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.62, for a total value of $470,276.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,688,130.14. This trade represents a 11.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 125,719 shares of company stock worth $7,349,316 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $68.38 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $44.12 billion, a PE ratio of 12.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $62.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.67. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.98 and a 12 month high of $68.99.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.43% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

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.