Yousif Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 90,506 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,763 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $5,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 1.7 %

DAL opened at $67.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.29 and a twelve month high of $69.98. The company has a market cap of $43.79 billion, a PE ratio of 12.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $63.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.51.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.43% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DAL shares. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.22.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at $660,455.04. This represents a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 106,893 shares of company stock valued at $7,407,783. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.