J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 30.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,366 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 5,271 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,800,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,932 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $968,234,000 after buying an additional 410,648 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $918,419,000 after acquiring an additional 46,101 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,090,209 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $670,994,000 after purchasing an additional 92,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,955,818 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $602,327,000 after acquiring an additional 2,254,560 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total transaction of $1,969,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 632,823 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,615,278.44. This trade represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,550 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,003,684.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 191,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,948,567.98. This represents a 8.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,973 shares of company stock worth $7,511,746. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group set a $72.00 target price on Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.21.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE DAL traded down $1.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $54.75. 10,691,016 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,832,841. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $50.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $35.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.49. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.74 and a 52 week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 24.86% and a net margin of 7.24%. The firm had revenue of $15,507,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.36 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Delta Air Lines's payout ratio is 8.70%.

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.