Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Decreases Stock Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 66.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,251 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 8,332 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $1,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FDX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of FedEx by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,199,506 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $5,682,727,000 after buying an additional 56,236 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 1.5% during 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 last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of FedEx by 8.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,042,050,000 after acquiring an additional 314,380 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 0.7% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,699,179 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $465,031,000 after purchasing an additional 11,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in FedEx by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,500,736 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $422,202,000 after purchasing an additional 49,160 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of FedEx from $350.00 to $331.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on FedEx from $275.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on FedEx from $323.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of FedEx from $337.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of FedEx in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $305.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $300.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FedEx news, EVP John W. Dietrich bought 1,000 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $273.98 per share, for a total transaction of $273,980.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,484,176.66. This represents a 12.40 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total transaction of $713,371.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,984,589.98. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

FedEx Stock Performance

FDX opened at $243.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $257.92 and a 200 day moving average of $271.55. FedEx Co. has a fifty-two week low of $217.22 and a fifty-two week high of $313.84.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The shipping service provider reported $4.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $21.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

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

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.