HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 5,194 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 314,754 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,194 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in FedEx were worth $88,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in FedEx by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 1,308 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,020 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,661 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 7,925 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $2,230,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,365 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $2,916,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total value of $1,100,271.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,904 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,510.80. This trade represents a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Amy B. Lane purchased 333 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $276.06 per share, for a total transaction of $91,927.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 333 shares in the company, valued at $91,927.98. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 8.87% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE FDX opened at $243.66 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $264.35 and a 200-day moving average of $275.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. FedEx Co. has a 52 week low of $239.50 and a 52 week high of $313.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.23.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 EPS 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FDX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on FedEx from $320.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com upgraded FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on FedEx from $372.00 to $323.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Raymond James cut FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $318.58.

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.