Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Raises Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,894 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $2,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total transaction of $6,405,943.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE:DAL opened at $53.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $34.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.29 and a twelve month high of $69.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its 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 business had revenue of $15.56 billion for 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 30.41%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.26%.

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.