Phoenix Financial Ltd. Sells 34,045 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. cut its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 121,903 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 34,045 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $7,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 2,150 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position 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 worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Mason & Associates Inc raised its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 5,088 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position 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 valued at $865,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 23.8 %

DAL stock opened at $44.42 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.81. The company has a market capitalization of $28.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.74 and a 12 month high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.38). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The firm had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total transaction of $6,405,943.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DAL shares. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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 report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.63.

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.