Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Shares Sold by West Paces Advisors Inc.

West Paces Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,783 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 405 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,817 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.5% in the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Navalign LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 17,402 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 54,325 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,785,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit X LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.1% in the third quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 28,205 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,044,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $2,816,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $46.55 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.52. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.60 and a 12 month high of $49.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.98, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 41.89% and a net margin of 8.48%. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 5.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on DAL shares. StockNews.com downgraded Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet upgraded Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group began coverage on Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

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.