HC Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

HC Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,651 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 471 shares during the period. HC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 69.8% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 91,372 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,528,000 after acquiring an additional 37,547 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $10,408,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 85,094 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,148,000 after buying an additional 1,638 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $67,000. Finally, Simmons Bank purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $226,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 3.2 %

NYSE:DAL opened at $59.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.60 billion, a PE ratio of 11.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.36. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.29 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.94.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DAL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.22.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In related news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.