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

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lessened its position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 29.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,475 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 17,257 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $1,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,817 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Navalign LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 17,402 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 54,325 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Summit X LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 28,205 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on DAL. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

NYSE:DAL traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $46.56. 7,883,290 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,789,975. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.60 and a 1 year high of $49.81. The company has a market cap of $30.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.46.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.14%.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

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.