PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,566 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 5,671 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $6,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 143.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,876,000 after purchasing an additional 33,378 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,036,000. New Millennium Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 314.0% in the 3rd quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 36,460 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 27,654 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $789,452,000 after purchasing an additional 416,338 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $189,296,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DAL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Fourteen equities research 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, Delta Air Lines currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.60.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $45.29 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.29 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The company has a market capitalization of $29.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.90. 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 (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. Delta Air Lines’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.