Wright Investors Service Inc. Has $1.39 Million Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Wright Investors Service Inc. cut its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 37.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 20,638 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 10.4% during the third quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,329 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 132.3% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 466,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $18,777,000 after purchasing an additional 265,852 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth $4,241,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 325.5% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 77,647 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,124,000 after purchasing an additional 59,398 shares during the period. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 4,434,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $178,400,000 after purchasing an additional 773,636 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of DAL traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $48.77. 5,000,018 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,799,666. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.58. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.60 and a 52 week high of $49.81. The company has a market cap of $31.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.15, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.43.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The company had revenue of $13.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is 5.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,807,705.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

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.