Norges Bank Purchases New Stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,869,768 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $807,352,000. Norges Bank owned 1.19% of FedEx at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. bLong Financial LLC bought a new position in FedEx in the 4th quarter valued at about $391,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of FedEx in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,405,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of FedEx during the fourth quarter worth approximately $461,000. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in FedEx by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,329 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in FedEx in the 4th quarter valued at $26,855,000. 84.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FDX. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of FedEx from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Cfra Research raised FedEx to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $300.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of FedEx from $364.00 to $354.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a report on Friday, March 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.71.

FedEx Price Performance

FedEx stock opened at $244.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $58.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $257.26 and its 200 day moving average is $271.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.19. FedEx Co. has a one year low of $217.22 and a one year high of $313.84.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The shipping service provider reported $4.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.56 by ($0.05). FedEx had a return on equity of 15.59% and a net margin of 4.45%. The firm had revenue of $22.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.63%.

Insider Activity

In other FedEx news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total value of $713,371.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,984,589.98. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. Insiders have sold 12,711 shares of company stock valued at $3,312,693 in the last ninety days. 8.87% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.