Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Increases Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 5,514.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 400,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 392,875 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $20,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the second quarter valued at $40,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DAL. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas raised Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.83.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of DAL opened at $63.62 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.84, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.46 and a 1-year high of $66.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.41 and a 200 day moving average of $49.47.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The firm had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.33%.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

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 shares were sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $3,830,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,775,004.27. This trade represents a 13.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $173,128.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 108,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,499,635.40. The trade was a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.