Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 156 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,044 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in FedEx were worth $2,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new stake in FedEx during the 1st quarter worth about $227,000. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in FedEx in the first quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of FedEx by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,868,165 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $5,756,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056,061 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association raised its stake in shares of FedEx by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 47,924 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $13,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 10,253 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $2,971,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on FDX shares. StockNews.com raised shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC cut FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, September 20th. Hsbc Global Res lowered FedEx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on FedEx from $301.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of FedEx from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.04.

FedEx Stock Performance

Shares of FDX stock opened at $294.46 on Friday. FedEx Co. has a 12 month low of $234.45 and a 12 month high of $313.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.94 billion, a PE ratio of 18.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $276.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The shipping service provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.82 by ($1.22). FedEx had a return on equity of 15.61% and a net margin of 4.62%. The firm had revenue of $21.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.05%.

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.