Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 321,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 8,016 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $18,777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $328,398,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $152,342,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,955,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $602,327,000 after buying an additional 2,254,560 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,577,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,380,820,000 after purchasing an additional 456,465 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.63.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 23.8 %

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $44.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $53.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.81. The company has a market cap of $28.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.33, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is 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.