Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Position Reduced by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,571,992 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 52,934 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.24% of Delta Air Lines worth $95,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,380,820,000 after purchasing an additional 456,465 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 416,338 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at $328,398,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,597,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $217,654,000 after acquiring an additional 100,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,544,750 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $214,457,000 after acquiring an additional 274,067 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James dropped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.77.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $43.38 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.14, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.29 and a 1-year high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.