Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Position Trimmed by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lowered its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,009 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,017 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter worth $517,000. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,052,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,644,000 after buying an additional 13,802 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the third quarter valued at about $228,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 0.6 %

DAL opened at $64.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.84 billion, a PE ratio of 9.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.28 and a fifty-two week high of $66.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.17 and a 200-day moving average of $48.51.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The business had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 8.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $3,830,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $24,775,004.27. This trade represents a 13.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 7,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.62, for a total transaction of $470,276.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 58,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,688,130.14. The trade was a 11.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the topic of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $70.23.

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.