Capital Management Associates Inc Lowers Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Capital Management Associates Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,792 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 151 shares during the period. Capital Management Associates Inc’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the third quarter valued at approximately $189,296,000. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,414,074,000 after acquiring an additional 749,099 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 419.5% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 562,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,551,000 after buying an additional 453,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 592,808 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,865,000 after purchasing an additional 453,547 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on DAL. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price 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. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,455.04. This represents a 40.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 124,863 shares of company stock valued at $8,649,150. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 0.3 %

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $68.14 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.60. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.29 and a 12 month high of $69.98. The stock has a market cap of $43.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.43% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

Delta Air Lines Company 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.