Institute for Wealth Management LLC. Trims Stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lessened its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 548 shares during the quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 65.9% in the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 77,805 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,130,000 after acquiring an additional 30,900 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 27,461 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 245.2% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 613,068 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $24,664,000 after purchasing an additional 435,452 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 556.1% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 4,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 3,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth about $240,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet raised Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $47.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $30.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.75. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.60 and a 12-month high of $49.81. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 41.89% and a net margin of 8.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

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.