Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Raises Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,821 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AXA S.A. purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter worth about $1,737,000. APG Asset Management N.V. purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter worth about $965,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter worth about $564,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 1.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 392,188 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $18,605,000 after buying an additional 6,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 5.6% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 71,968 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after buying an additional 3,824 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL opened at $67.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $43.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.35. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.29 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.43%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $1,305,148.60. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,429 shares of company stock worth $9,339,519 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.22.

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.