Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 131,081 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. $DAL

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 4.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,607,781 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 131,081 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $128,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,844 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. JT Stratford LLC raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.2% during the first quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 16,403 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.1% during the second quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 7,042 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 26.9% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 14.7% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,911 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $69.20 to $73.70 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Seaport Global Securities increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $69.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Dbs Bank raised Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.68.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 3.4%

NYSE DAL opened at $64.29 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.74 and a 12 month high of $69.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.61. The stock has a market cap of $41.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.52.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 15th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 23.83%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 16th were issued a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.56%.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP John E. Laughter sold 23,323 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.33, for a total transaction of $1,453,722.59. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 81,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,055,523.97. This trade represents a 22.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 14,010 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.25, for a total value of $858,112.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $968,730. The trade was a 46.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company 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.