Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Has $1.54 Million Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,466 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 158 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $1,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FDX. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of FedEx by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 88 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP. acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at FedEx

In other news, EVP John W. Dietrich purchased 1,000 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total transaction 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. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of FedEx from $328.00 to $337.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of FedEx from $325.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of FedEx from $368.00 to $364.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.74.

FedEx Stock Performance

NYSE FDX opened at $250.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $60.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $267.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $276.69. FedEx Co. has a twelve month low of $242.92 and a twelve month high of $313.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.14 billion. FedEx had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

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 paid a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. FedEx’s payout ratio is currently 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.