Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 42.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 937 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 680 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of FedEx by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,791 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,281,335,000 after acquiring an additional 67,502 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in FedEx by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,042,050,000 after buying an additional 314,380 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in FedEx by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,699,179 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $465,031,000 after buying an additional 11,100 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in FedEx by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,451,576 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $397,267,000 after buying an additional 13,093 shares during the period. Finally, Sentry LLC increased its stake in FedEx by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Sentry LLC now owns 1,217,117 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $342,412,000 after buying an additional 5,404 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Stock Up 0.9 %

FDX stock opened at $258.26 on Tuesday. FedEx Co. has a 52 week low of $234.45 and a 52 week high of $313.84. The company has a market capitalization of $62.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $274.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.17. FedEx had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The company had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.99 EPS. FedEx’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total value of $713,371.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,886 shares in the company, valued at $30,984,589.98. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total transaction of $1,100,271.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,904 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,510.80. The trade was a 30.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of FedEx from $368.00 to $364.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered shares of FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $365.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.87.

FedEx Profile

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.