Forest Avenue Capital Management LP Acquires New Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Forest Avenue Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 799,485 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,369,000. Delta Air Lines accounts for about 4.4% of Forest Avenue Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.12% of Delta Air Lines at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 14.0% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 19,541 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $992,000 after acquiring an additional 2,401 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 71,389 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,626,000 after purchasing an additional 11,094 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 7,515 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 43,929 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,231,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $301,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Dbs Bank lowered Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.06.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $40.88 on Monday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.74 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.37 and a 200 day moving average of $57.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $26.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total transaction of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 over the last 90 days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.