HighTower Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 243,745 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 57,522 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $14,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Glaxis Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth approximately $605,000. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 53,662 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,247,000 after buying an additional 15,009 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 165.9% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,682 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 6,664 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 46,849 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,834,000 after buying an additional 5,451 shares during the period. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,053,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DAL. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. This trade represents a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $447,271.02. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $660,455.04. The trade was a 40.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $46.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.34 and a 200 day moving average of $57.96. 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 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. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors 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 yield of 1.29%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.26%.

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.