FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Holdings Reduced by Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lowered its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,286 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 141 shares during the quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in FedEx were worth $924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in FedEx by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,791 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,281,335,000 after purchasing an additional 67,502 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FedEx by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,042,050,000 after acquiring an additional 314,380 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 0.7% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,699,179 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $465,031,000 after acquiring an additional 11,100 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in FedEx by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,451,576 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $397,267,000 after purchasing an additional 13,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentry LLC lifted its position in FedEx by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Sentry LLC now owns 1,217,117 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $342,412,000 after purchasing an additional 5,404 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at FedEx

In related news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total value of $713,371.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,984,589.98. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy B. Lane purchased 333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $276.06 per share, for a total transaction of $91,927.98. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,927.98. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on FDX. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of FedEx from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price on shares of FedEx from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.87.

FedEx Price Performance

NYSE FDX opened at $263.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.19. FedEx Co. has a 52-week low of $234.45 and a 52-week high of $313.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.18.

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

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.