Whipplewood Advisors LLC Takes Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 336 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $95,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FDX. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 22,317.0% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 322,580 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $90,751,000 after buying an additional 321,141 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,042,050,000 after buying an additional 314,380 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 197.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 341,390 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $96,043,000 after buying an additional 226,608 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 2,163.7% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 192,441 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $52,667,000 after buying an additional 183,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,445,000. 84.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at FedEx

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on FDX shares. BNP Paribas raised FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com raised FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on FedEx from $368.00 to $364.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FedEx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.87.

FedEx Stock Performance

NYSE FDX opened at $263.11 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $268.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $277.40. The company has a market cap of $63.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.18. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $242.92 and a fifty-two week high of $313.84.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.14 billion. FedEx had a return on equity of 15.59% and a net margin of 4.45%. FedEx’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

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.