Gradient Investments LLC Takes $236,000 Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,903 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,414,074,000 after buying an additional 749,099 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $789,452,000 after acquiring an additional 416,338 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at $189,296,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,497,487 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $177,637,000 after acquiring an additional 10,332 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DAL shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 149,429 shares of company stock worth $9,924,819 in the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $67.10 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.22. The company has a market cap of $43.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $37.29 and a one year high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion for 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 30.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.