Freedom Investment Management Inc. Sells 1,006 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,431 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,006 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,380,820,000 after purchasing an additional 456,465 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,800,754,000 after buying an additional 1,922,932 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $968,234,000 after buying an additional 410,648 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,955,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $602,327,000 after buying an additional 2,254,560 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $328,398,000. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Dbs Bank cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $77.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.06.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL opened at $39.45 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.74 and a 12 month high of $69.98. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.40, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.64%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 154,486 shares of company stock valued at $10,561,895 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines 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.