Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Has $646,000 Stock Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 165.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,682 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,664 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Hemington Wealth Management raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter worth $31,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on DAL. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.60.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 3.0 %

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $45.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $29.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.29 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.90. 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. This trade represents a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last quarter. 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.