Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 3,868 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 29.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,377 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,868 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at approximately $189,296,000. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,414,074,000 after purchasing an additional 749,099 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 419.5% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 562,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,551,000 after buying an additional 453,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 592,808 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,865,000 after buying an additional 453,547 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $1,241,367.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,479,212.12. The trade was a 33.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL opened at $61.51 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $39.76 billion, a PE ratio of 11.54, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.36. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.29 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.73.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Delta Air Lines 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.