FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Shares Sold by Wright Investors Service Inc.

Wright Investors Service Inc. lowered its stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 70.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,612 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 3,905 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its position in FedEx by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in FedEx by 43.9% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,385 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $3,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,693 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in FedEx by 101.5% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $989,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in FedEx by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 148,735 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $34,408,000 after acquiring an additional 10,731 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in FedEx by 553.3% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 392 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of FDX opened at $263.37 on Friday. FedEx Co. has a 1 year low of $213.80 and a 1 year high of $291.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $258.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $254.17. The stock has a market cap of $64.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.21.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The shipping service provider reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.37. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 5.02%. The business had revenue of $21.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.41 EPS. FedEx’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FedEx Co. will post 17.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. FedEx’s payout ratio is presently 29.07%.

FedEx declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the shipping service provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FDX. StockNews.com lowered FedEx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on FedEx from $323.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on FedEx from $306.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Melius Research raised FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.33.

Insider Transactions at FedEx

In related news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $31,105,620.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 14,505,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,978,953,009.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $31,105,620.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 14,505,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,978,953,009.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Tracy B. Brightman sold 2,550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.69, for a total value of $703,009.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,294 shares in the company, valued at $1,735,192.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 136,668 shares of company stock valued at $37,758,773. Corporate insiders own 8.73% of the company’s stock.

About FedEx

FedEx Corporation provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services in the United States and internationally. It operates through FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Services segments. The FedEx Express segment offers express transportation, small-package ground delivery, and freight transportation services; and time-critical transportation services.