Sentry Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Sentry Investment Management LLC cut its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 867 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 141 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in FedEx were worth $244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FDX. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in FedEx by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,791 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,281,335,000 after acquiring an additional 67,502 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of FedEx by 8.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,042,050,000 after purchasing an additional 314,380 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in FedEx by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,699,179 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $465,031,000 after purchasing an additional 11,100 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in FedEx by 0.9% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Sentry LLC boosted its stake in FedEx by 0.4% in the 4th 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. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on FDX shares. Raymond James downgraded shares of FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Loop Capital lowered FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $365.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.87.

FedEx Stock Performance

FedEx stock opened at $256.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.18. FedEx Co. has a 1-year low of $239.07 and a 1-year high of $313.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $269.72 and its 200 day moving average is $277.80.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $3.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FedEx news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total value of $1,100,271.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,904 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,510.80. This represents a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John W. Dietrich purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $273.98 per share, with a total value of $273,980.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,484,176.66. This represents a 12.40 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.