Prospera Financial Services Inc Sells 809 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Prospera Financial Services Inc reduced its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 9.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,765 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 809 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.9% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,645 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 16.9% during the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 1,412 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.0% in the third quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,357 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,198 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DAL. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $72.75.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,197,608.72. This trade represents a 52.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total value of $1,077,017.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 121,961 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,739,564.86. This represents a 13.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL opened at $63.34 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $55.01 and a 200 day moving average of $49.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.46 and a 12 month high of $66.25. The firm has a market cap of $40.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.33.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The company had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.33%.

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.