Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,275 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $1,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FDX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $807,352,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at $234,028,000. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of FedEx by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,889,624 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $3,907,568,000 after buying an additional 734,268 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of FedEx by 18,202.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 545,586 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $133,003,000 after acquiring an additional 542,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at about $145,733,000. 84.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FedEx Price Performance

NYSE:FDX opened at $222.07 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $219.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $243.71. FedEx Corporation has a 52 week low of $194.30 and a 52 week high of $313.84. The stock has a market cap of $53.21 billion, a PE ratio of 13.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 24th. The shipping service provider reported $6.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.98 by $0.09. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 4.65%. The company had revenue of $22.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.41 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that FedEx Corporation will post 19.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. This is a boost from FedEx’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is 36.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on FDX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on FedEx from $282.00 to $249.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of FedEx from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of FedEx from $270.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of FedEx in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.75.

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.