Great Lakes Advisors LLC Has $67.62 Million Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,425,451 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 310,529 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $67,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 65.3% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 22,807 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after buying an additional 9,009 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 1.2% in the second quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 160,684 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,623,000 after buying an additional 1,828 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 16.9% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,237,121 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $58,689,000 after buying an additional 179,261 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.7% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 352,298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $16,525,000 after buying an additional 12,468 shares during the period. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 22.3% in the second quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 5,235 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 956 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

NYSE DAL traded down $0.14 on Friday, hitting $42.03. The stock had a trading volume of 8,498,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,510,068. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.60 and a 52-week high of $53.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $27.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.54 and a 200-day moving average of $46.00.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The transportation company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.37 by ($0.01). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 36.02% and a net margin of 7.46%. The firm had revenue of $15.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Willie Cw Chiang acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $43.90 per share, for a total transaction of $439,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $878,000. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.80 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

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.