Is Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL).

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. However, a stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. Since the level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as BB&T Corporation (NYSE:BBT), PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG), and Liberty Global Inc. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) to gather more data points.

If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, old investment tools of years past. While there are over 8,000 funds in operation at the moment, We choose to focus on the masters of this club, approximately 700 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors orchestrate the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by following their finest equity investments, Insider Monkey has unsheathed various investment strategies that have historically defeated Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.

Chris Parypa Photography / Shutterstock.com

With all of this in mind, let’s take a glance at the latest action surrounding Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL).

How have hedgies been trading Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)?

At the end of September, a total of 85 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, down by 10% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Lansdowne Partners, managed by Alex Snow, holds the number one position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL). Lansdowne Partners has a $1.0532 billion position in the stock, comprising 9.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management, with a $451.3 million position; 6.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism contain David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management, and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.