Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Shares Sold by Lee Danner & Bass Inc.

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. reduced its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,511 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,743 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $2,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 749,099 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $789,452,000 after acquiring an additional 416,338 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at about $328,398,000. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the third quarter valued at about $189,296,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,597,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $217,654,000 after acquiring an additional 100,102 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DAL. Barclays lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $46.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $61.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.99. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.29 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. 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.