Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Makes New Investment in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,015 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $763,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in FedEx by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,729,110 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $4,961,716,000 after buying an additional 59,161 shares during the last quarter. Sentry LLC bought a new position in shares of FedEx during the fourth quarter valued at $1,811,748,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in FedEx by 29.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,063,938 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,076,619,000 after buying an additional 916,555 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in FedEx by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,238,185 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $857,860,000 after acquiring an additional 35,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of FedEx by 13.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,004,838 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $796,042,000 after buying an additional 360,680 shares in the last quarter. 84.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FDX. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of FedEx from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of FedEx in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com cut FedEx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 11th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on FedEx from $306.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of FedEx from $327.00 to $351.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.33.

FedEx Trading Down 0.6 %

FDX stock traded down $1.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $258.01. The stock had a trading volume of 1,451,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,943,373. FedEx Co. has a 1-year low of $213.80 and a 1-year high of $291.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $265.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $255.28. The firm has a market cap of $63.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.23.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The shipping service provider reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.37. FedEx had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The firm had revenue of $21.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FedEx Co. will post 17.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.07%.

FedEx declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the shipping service provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FedEx news, EVP Tracy B. Brightman sold 2,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.69, for a total transaction of $703,009.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,735,192.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other FedEx news, CEO Sriram Krishnasamy sold 354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.19, for a total transaction of $102,373.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,223,600.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Tracy B. Brightman sold 2,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.69, for a total value of $703,009.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,735,192.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 136,668 shares of company stock worth $37,758,773 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 8.73% 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.