Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,289,639 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 339,492 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.20% of Delta Air Lines worth $78,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth about $328,398,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $152,342,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,955,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $602,327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,254,560 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $64,577,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 456,465 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $77.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Monday. Raymond James dropped 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 report on Wednesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Dbs Bank downgraded Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.06.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $554,568.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,304,291.12. This represents 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 currently owned by insiders.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of DAL stock opened at $40.88 on Friday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.67, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.