Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Shares Sold by Mariner LLC

Mariner LLC reduced its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,421 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 4,520 shares during the period. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $7,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,380,820,000 after buying an additional 456,465 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,800,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,932 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $968,234,000 after acquiring an additional 410,648 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,955,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $602,327,000 after acquiring an additional 2,254,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at about $328,398,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 0.5 %

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $40.81 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.29. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.74 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.66, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.38). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 10.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on DAL. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price target (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.06.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm’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 $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. This trade represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 154,486 shares of company stock valued at $10,561,895. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

About Delta Air Lines

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.