Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 20,638 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lowered its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 37.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 20,638 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 1st quarter valued at $502,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 495.7% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 685 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 396.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 720 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the period. Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:DAL traded up $0.89 on Thursday, hitting $48.77. 5,000,018 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,799,666. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.60 and a 52 week high of $49.81. The company has a market cap of $31.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.43.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $13.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 5.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,807,705.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.