Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Shares Sold by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,358 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,078 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $2,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 5.4% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,802 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 143.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,876,000 after acquiring an additional 33,378 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after acquiring an additional 43,000 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,036,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 22.8% during the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 24,249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $64.74 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.09. The stock has a market cap of $41.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $1,241,367.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,479,212.12. This represents a 33.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 124,863 shares of company stock valued at $8,649,150. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Company 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.