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

Highland Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 149,841 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 13,474 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $6,533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $4,380,820,000 after buying an additional 456,465 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,800,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,932 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 410,648 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $918,419,000 after purchasing an additional 46,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $670,994,000 after purchasing an additional 92,208 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL stock traded up $0.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.63. The stock had a trading volume of 10,170,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,776,597. The company's 50 day moving average price is $47.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.41. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.74 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The stock has a market cap of $32.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.38.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 28.18%. The company had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The company's revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on DAL. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $60.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.67.

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.