Jones Financial Companies Lllp Boosts Stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 55.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,133 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,789 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in FedEx were worth $5,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FDX. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in FedEx by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 88 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. bought a new position in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in FedEx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FDX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Loop Capital downgraded FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $365.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James downgraded FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on FedEx from $368.00 to $364.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on FedEx from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FedEx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.74.

FedEx Stock Performance

NYSE:FDX opened at $247.45 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $268.09 and its 200 day moving average is $276.88. FedEx Co. has a fifty-two week low of $242.92 and a fifty-two week high of $313.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a PEG 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 (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.17. FedEx had a return on equity of 15.59% and a net margin of 4.45%. The company had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.99 EPS. FedEx’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. FedEx’s payout ratio is 35.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FedEx news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 8,904 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,510.80. This trade represents a 30.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John W. Dietrich bought 1,000 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $273.98 per share, for a total transaction of $273,980.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 9,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,484,176.66. This trade represents a 12.40 % 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 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.