Wealthfront Advisers LLC Grows Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 35.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 146,585 shares of the transportation company's stock after acquiring an additional 38,164 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $6,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $4,380,820,000 after acquiring an additional 456,465 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,800,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,932 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $968,234,000 after acquiring an additional 410,648 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $918,419,000 after acquiring an additional 46,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,090,209 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $670,994,000 after acquiring an additional 92,208 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on DAL. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Susquehanna Bancshares raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $51.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $64.00 to $69.20 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.96, for a total transaction of $1,007,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 97,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,456,379.80. The trade was a 15.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 45,423 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.56, for a total transaction of $2,523,701.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 131,731 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,318,974.36. This represents a 25.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 98,973 shares of company stock worth $5,541,946. Insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $56.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,916,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,306,013. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.49. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $50.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.59. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.74 and a 12-month high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $15,507,000 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.16 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.24% and a return on equity of 24.86%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This is a boost from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Delta Air Lines's payout ratio is currently 8.70%.

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.