Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $10.41 Million in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 172,039 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,408,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,906 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,806,000 after acquiring an additional 5,693 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,774 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 62,819 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,801,000 after purchasing an additional 9,256 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,860,784 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $112,577,000 after purchasing an additional 265,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 24,958 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,510,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total transaction of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on DAL shares. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.60.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 6.1 %

Shares of DAL opened at $46.60 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $30.12 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company 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%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

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.