Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Holdings Lifted by Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC

Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 312.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,200 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,455 shares during the quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL stock traded up $2.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $56.83. The company had a trading volume of 8,738,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,486,158. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $64.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.57. 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 quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

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.