Prospera Financial Services Inc Sells 809 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Prospera Financial Services Inc trimmed its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,765 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 809 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Senator Investment Group LP lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 90.0% during the second quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 475,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $22,534,000 after buying an additional 225,000 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,644,000 after acquiring an additional 13,802 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Delta Air Lines by 143.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,876,000 after acquiring an additional 33,378 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 32.6% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after acquiring an additional 43,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 22.8% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 24,249 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $1,305,148.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,197,608.72. This represents a 52.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total value of $1,077,017.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 121,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,739,564.86. This trade represents a 13.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,240 shares of company stock valued at $8,044,893 in the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on DAL. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. 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. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $72.75.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $63.34 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $40.87 billion, a PE ratio of 8.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.33. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.46 and a 52-week high of $66.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.33%.

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.