Calamos Advisors LLC Trims Position in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Calamos Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 427,151 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 36,721 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $17,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter worth $60,640,000. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,396,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $129,679,000 after buying an additional 1,504,544 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 211.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,127,687 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $73,661,000 after buying an additional 1,443,810 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,700,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,578 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 27.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,813,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,957 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

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

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of DAL traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.58. 1,925,387 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,778,673. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.02 and its 200-day moving average is $39.64. The company has a market cap of $31.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.43. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.60 and a fifty-two week high of $49.81. 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) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $13.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DAL. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $58.29.

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.