Ameriprise Financial Inc. Reduces Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 946,233 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 17,891 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $57,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,525 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,894 shares during the last quarter. 140 Summer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $66,627,000. Wahed Invest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 4,167 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 64,811 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,921,000 after acquiring an additional 6,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 60.7% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 320,572 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $19,395,000 after acquiring an additional 121,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Raymond James reduced their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 target price (down from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.37.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE:DAL opened at $48.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $31.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $44.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.39. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share 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 period 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. Analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.64%.

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.