Smith Salley Wealth Management Buys Shares of 3,505 Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Smith Salley Wealth Management purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,505 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $211,000. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,346 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 53.2% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 15,784 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $955,000 after buying an additional 5,479 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Finally, Mason & Associates Inc lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 5,088 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:DAL opened at $65.81 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.39. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.69 and a fifty-two week high of $68.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DAL. StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.22.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.53, for a total transaction of $585,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 64,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,755,460.39. The trade was a 13.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total value of $3,830,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,775,004.27. The trade was a 13.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 117,319 shares of company stock valued at $6,794,748 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.96% 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.