HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 314,754 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,194 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.13% of FedEx worth $88,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 1.5% in the 3rd 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. grew its stake in FedEx by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,042,050,000 after purchasing an additional 314,380 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in FedEx by 0.7% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 11,100 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of FedEx by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,500,736 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $422,202,000 after acquiring an additional 49,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentry LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,404 shares in the last quarter. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total transaction of $713,371.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,984,589.98. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the 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 approximately $2,461,510.80. This represents a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FDX shares. StockNews.com upgraded FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Loop Capital downgraded FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $365.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James downgraded FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on FedEx in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $337.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on FedEx from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FedEx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.58.

FedEx Stock Performance

Shares of FDX stock opened at $243.66 on Thursday. 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 fifty-two week low of $239.50 and a fifty-two week high of $313.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $264.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $275.13. The firm has a market cap of $58.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is 35.18%.

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.