Cerity Partners LLC Grows Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 321,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 8,016 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $18,777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,380,820,000 after buying an additional 456,465 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $968,234,000 after buying an additional 410,648 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,955,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $602,327,000 after buying an additional 2,254,560 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $328,398,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,597,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $217,654,000 after purchasing an additional 100,102 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on DAL. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.63.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total transaction of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,304,291.12. The trade was a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 23.8 %

DAL stock opened at $44.42 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.72 billion, a PE ratio of 8.33, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.74 and a twelve month high of $69.98. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.81.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

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.