Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Shares Bought by Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 793.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 715 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $189,296,000. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,414,074,000 after acquiring an additional 749,099 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 419.5% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 562,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,551,000 after purchasing an additional 453,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $789,452,000 after purchasing an additional 416,338 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.22.

Insider Activity

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total value of $3,830,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,775,004.27. This trade represents a 13.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,197,608.72. This represents a 52.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 117,319 shares of company stock valued at $6,794,748. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of DAL opened at $65.42 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.34 and a twelve month high of $68.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.15.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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.