Emerald Advisers LLC Sells 5,687 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Emerald Advisers LLC lessened its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 55.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,588 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 5,687 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. American International Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 181,107 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,783 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 1st quarter worth about $749,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,127,607 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,364,000 after purchasing an additional 73,936 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 50,358 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,108,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. HSBC initiated coverage on Delta Air Lines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $72.80 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL opened at $42.03 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.13 billion, a PE ratio of 6.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.60 and a 12-month high of $53.86.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The transportation company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.37 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $15.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.45 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 36.02% and a net margin of 7.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.68 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a boost from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Delta Air Lines news, Director Willie Cw Chiang bought 10,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $43.90 per share, for a total transaction of $439,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $878,000. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

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.