Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 18,400 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Employees Retirement System of Texas reduced its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 13.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 118,544 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 18,400 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $7,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 2,150 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,555 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 5,088 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $865,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,304,291.12. The trade was a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % 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 quarter. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.49.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 4.1 %

DAL stock opened at $37.13 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $56.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23.

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. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.