M&T Bank Corp Purchases 5,693 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,906 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 5,693 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DAL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 16.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,357 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 6.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,198 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 10.3% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 116,764 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,930,000 after purchasing an additional 10,881 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 742,773 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,725,000 after purchasing an additional 19,124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 9.6% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 92,841 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,715,000 after purchasing an additional 8,125 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on DAL. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $53.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.29 and a 12 month high of $69.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.68 and a 200-day moving average of $57.76. The company has a market capitalization of $34.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.98, a P/E/G 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In related news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at $1,304,291.12. The trade was a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.