Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Acquires Shares of 48,824 Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 48,824 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,954,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 2,150 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 5,088 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $865,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,820 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on DAL. UBS Group lowered 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 report on Tuesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target 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. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.29.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of DAL opened at $47.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.29 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.50 and a 200 day moving average of $58.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its 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 net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was 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 owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,304,291.12. This represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

About Delta Air Lines

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.