Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Stock Position Reduced by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,284,496 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,561,324 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $985,212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 2,150 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc lifted its position in Delta Air Lines by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 5,088 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,298 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $865,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,820 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DAL shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays cut their target price on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $43.62 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.38. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The company has a market capitalization of $28.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. 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 earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $1,241,367.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,889 shares in the company, valued at $2,479,212.12. This trade represents a 33.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 over the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Delta Air Lines 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.