Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $29 Million Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 479,299 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,640 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.07% of Delta Air Lines worth $28,998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DAL. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 68.1% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,006 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at $517,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 18.1% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,631 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 12.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 40,965 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,081,000 after purchasing an additional 4,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.9% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DAL. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.60.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $46.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.34 and a 200-day moving average of $57.96. 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 has a market cap of $30.12 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.29 and a 52-week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at $660,455.04. The trade was a 40.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.