FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Short Interest Down 7.8% in January

FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) saw a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,290,000 shares, a drop of 7.8% from the January 15th total of 3,570,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FDX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America upped their price target on FedEx from $325.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of FedEx from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FedEx news, EVP John W. Dietrich acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $273.98 per share, with a total value of $273,980.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 9,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,484,176.66. This represents a 12.40 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 8,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FedEx

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FDX. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of FedEx by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 88 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in FedEx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Evermay Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of FedEx by 72.7% in the 3rd quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, City Holding Co. bought a new stake in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FedEx Stock Performance

FDX traded down $0.42 on Tuesday, hitting $267.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 927,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,668,628. FedEx has a 12 month low of $235.32 and a 12 month high of $313.84. The firm has a market cap of $64.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $278.71.

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

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. FedEx’s payout ratio is currently 35.18%.

FedEx Company 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.