Wright Investors Service Inc. Acquires 6,796 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Wright Investors Service Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 18.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 43,670 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,796 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $2,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,414,074,000 after acquiring an additional 749,099 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $789,452,000 after purchasing an additional 416,338 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,933,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $471,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,674 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at $281,206,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the third quarter worth $189,296,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total value of $1,077,017.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 121,961 shares in the company, valued at $6,739,564.86. This represents a 13.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,197,608.72. This trade represents a 52.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 136,809 shares of company stock worth $7,871,765 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE:DAL opened at $65.07 on Tuesday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.34 and a 12 month high of $68.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $62.43 and its 200 day moving average is $52.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.35.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DAL shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.22.

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.