FedEx (NYSE:FDX) Shares Down 1.3%

FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) traded down 1.3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $263.20 and last traded at $263.26. 178,921 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 2,091,948 shares. The stock had previously closed at $266.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of FedEx from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of FedEx from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of FedEx from $346.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of FedEx from $293.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of FedEx from $327.00 to $351.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FedEx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.33.

FedEx Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $65.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $257.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.05.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The shipping service provider reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $21.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.95 billion. FedEx had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that FedEx Co. will post 17.67 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. FedEx’s payout ratio is currently 29.07%.

FedEx announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the shipping service provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $31,105,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 14,505,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,978,953,009.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other FedEx news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total value of $31,105,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 14,505,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,978,953,009.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sriram Krishnasamy sold 354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.19, for a total value of $102,373.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,223,600.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 136,668 shares of company stock valued at $37,758,773 over the last three months. 8.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FDX. Sentry LLC purchased a new position in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter valued at $1,811,748,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in FedEx during the 4th quarter worth about $700,291,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in FedEx during the 3rd quarter worth about $496,611,000. FMR LLC increased its position in FedEx by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,063,938 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,076,619,000 after purchasing an additional 916,555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its position in FedEx by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,667,462 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,686,738,000 after purchasing an additional 880,894 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

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.