Bank of Nova Scotia Boosts Stock Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 59.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,756 shares of the transportation company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,117 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $4,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 2,150 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management increased its position 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,555 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 5,088 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,298 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $865,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on DAL. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.06.

Insider Activity

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company'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 value of $6,405,943.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:DAL traded down $0.59 on Monday, reaching $40.29. 12,488,380 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,301,440. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company's 50 day moving average is $52.37 and its 200-day moving average is $57.73.

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

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.64%.

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.