Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Increases Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 61.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,000 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,221 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,149,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 3.8 %

DAL traded up $2.09 on Wednesday, hitting $56.78. The company had a trading volume of 5,962,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,476,579. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.57. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.29 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. Delta Air Lines's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

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.