Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Boosts Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 58,203 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,315 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 137.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,811,787 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $958,538,000 after purchasing an additional 7,994,004 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $471,532,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1,579.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,673,400 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $185,534,000 after buying an additional 2,514,193 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,155,776 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $426,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,496,296 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $659,043,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834,385 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DAL. Seaport Research Partners lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. HSBC reduced their target price on Delta Air Lines from $80.20 to $79.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial lowered Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Delta Air Lines from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.06.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE DAL opened at $87.48 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.42. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $50.44 and a one year high of $95.68. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $81.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.54.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 9th. The transportation company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The company had revenue of $17.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.5 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.215 per share. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.00, for a total value of $395,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 133,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,574,466. This trade represents a 3.60% 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, EVP John E. Laughter sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.61, for a total value of $1,074,150.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 54,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,893,364.09. This represents a 21.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 80,331 shares of company stock valued at $6,110,788. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Delta Air Lines

Here are the key news stories impacting Delta Air Lines this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Delta beat Q2 expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $1.56 on revenue of $17.67 billion, both above estimates, with revenue up 18.7% year over year.
• Positive Sentiment: The company reaffirmed its full-year 2026 EPS outlook of $6.50 to $7.50 and guided Q3 EPS to $2.00 to $2.50, both above Wall Street estimates, signaling confidence in continued demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Management said premium, corporate, and international travel remain strong, helping offset higher operating costs, and also announced a 15% increase in its dividend beginning in the September quarter.
• Positive Sentiment: Delta highlighted customer-service improvements from its AI assistant and digital tools, which lifted customer satisfaction scores by 25 points during travel disruptions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports say analysts and options traders see the post-earnings selloff as a potential buying opportunity, suggesting the market may be overreacting to the results.
• Neutral Sentiment: Media coverage noted Delta’s ability to keep fares elevated even as fuel prices ease, which supports revenue but may limit demand upside if pricing remains stretched.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are worried about margin pressure after Delta absorbed the highest quarterly fuel expense in its history, which weighed on profits despite strong sales.
• Negative Sentiment: Although earnings beat expectations, profit fell from a year ago, and the market appears to be discounting that decline along with rising labor and inflation costs.

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines is a major U.S.-based global airline that provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation, aircraft maintenance and repair services, and related travel products. Its operations include mainline domestic and international passenger services, a branded regional network operating under the Delta Connection name, dedicated air cargo carriage, and in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul through Delta TechOps. Delta offers a range of cabin products for different customer segments, including premium business-class service on long-haul routes and tiered economy offerings on domestic and international flights, and it markets customer loyalty benefits through the SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.

The carrier operates a mixed fleet of narrow- and wide-body aircraft from multiple U.S.