Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Reduces Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI cut its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,023 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 4,849 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $3,179,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 89.6% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,535 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 4,034 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 47.8% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 112,471 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,161,000 after buying an additional 36,387 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 345,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,791,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 94.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,146 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 34,868 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $2,816,128.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $2,816,128.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Glen W. Hauenstein sold 100,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.05, for a total transaction of $4,905,000.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 217,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,672,495.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,913 shares of company stock worth $8,897,335 in the last quarter. 0.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DAL. StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of DAL traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $49.92. The company had a trading volume of 9,982,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,289,924. The stock has a market cap of $32.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.18. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.60 and a fifty-two week high of $50.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $13.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.14%.

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.