Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 42 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,328 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 42 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FDX. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx during the third quarter valued at $97,000. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in FedEx by 7.6% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,552 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $698,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in FedEx by 15.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 81,696 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $22,237,000 after purchasing an additional 11,081 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in FedEx by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 111,426 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $30,495,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its holdings in FedEx by 4.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 2,901 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 84.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target 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. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FedEx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Amy B. Lane bought 333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $276.06 per share, with a total value of $91,927.98. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,927.98. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of FedEx 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

FedEx Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FDX opened at $263.30 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $272.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $279.56. FedEx Co. has a 12 month low of $234.45 and a 12 month high of $313.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.18.

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

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.