First Manhattan CO. LLC. Cuts Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lessened its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 20,625 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,295 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $51,696,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,441,828 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $87,231,000 after acquiring an additional 270,215 shares during the period. EHP Funds Inc. raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 339.0% in the 4th quarter. EHP Funds Inc. now owns 18,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 13,900 shares during the period. Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Finally, Crestline Management LP raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 147.6% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 124,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,509,000 after acquiring an additional 73,983 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL opened at $48.28 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.06 and a 200-day moving average of $56.40. The company has a market capitalization of $31.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.46. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.74 and a 1-year 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.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 10.64%.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In related news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DAL shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. 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. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 target price (down from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.37.

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.