Wright Investors Service Inc. Acquires 6,796 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 18.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 43,670 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 6,796 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $2,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 829.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 604 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE:DAL opened at $65.07 on Tuesday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $36.34 and a one year high of $68.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.04, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total value of $1,077,017.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 121,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,739,564.86. This trade represents a 13.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 7,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.62, for a total value of $470,276.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,688,130.14. The trade was a 11.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 136,809 shares of company stock worth $7,871,765 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of 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. increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.22.

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.