Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 265,581 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,860,784 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 265,581 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.29% of Delta Air Lines worth $112,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $13,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,802 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 143.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,876,000 after buying an additional 33,378 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 43,000 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth about $2,036,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 24,249 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $1,241,367.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,479,212.12. The trade was a 33.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their position. 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. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 3.9 %

NYSE:DAL opened at $56.83 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.56. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $36.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DAL. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.22.

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.