Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Sells 17,257 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Free Report) by 29.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 41,475 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 17,257 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,669,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,700,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,578 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,652,643 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $756,110,000 after purchasing an additional 579,727 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,168,804 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $459,144,000 after acquiring an additional 351,286 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,839,122 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $401,048,000 after acquiring an additional 865,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,091,528 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $188,514,000 after acquiring an additional 743,882 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $2,816,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,807,705.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Delta Air Lines from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on Delta Air Lines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $59.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL traded down $0.10 on Tuesday, hitting $46.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,688,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,843,458. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.60 and a 12 month high of $49.81. The company has a market capitalization of $30.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.43. The stock's 50-day moving average is $43.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.41.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 41.89% and a net margin of 8.48%. The company had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.14%.

About Delta Air Lines

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.