Sentry Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,926 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,647 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 26,166.7% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 788 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 122.5% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 821 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of DAL opened at $43.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.01 billion, a PE ratio of 6.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.10. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.60 and a fifty-two week high of $53.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.40.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 11th. The transportation company reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by ($0.01). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.46% and a return on equity of 36.02%. The company had revenue of $15.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 8.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, Director Willie Cw Chiang bought 10,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $43.90 per share, for a total transaction of $439,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $878,000. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.