Patten & Patten Inc. TN Has $1.65 Million Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Key Points

• Patten & Patten Inc. TN reduced its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 11.3% in Q1, now owning 37,777 shares valued at approximately $1.65 million.
• Delta Air Lines recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.15 to $0.1875 per share, reflecting a yield of 1.37%.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Delta Air Lines, with Bernstein Bank updating its target to $66.00 and HSBC setting it at $69.20, indicating strong growth expectations.

Patten & Patten Inc. TN lowered its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 11.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,777 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 4,790 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 414.4% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 535 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 584 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 991 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was 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 directly owned 191,442 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,948,567.98. This trade represents a 8.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 35,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.28, for a total value of $1,969,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 632,823 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,615,278.44. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,973 shares of company stock valued at $7,511,746 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. HSBC increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $64.00 to $69.20 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.21.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $54.84 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $50.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.28. 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 $35.81 billion, a PE ratio of 7.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.49.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $15,507,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. The business's revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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