Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 53,610 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 18,804 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in FedEx were worth $15,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FDX. bLong Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx in the 4th quarter worth $391,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in FedEx during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,405,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx during the fourth quarter worth $461,000. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of FedEx by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,329 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in FedEx in the 4th quarter worth $26,855,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Stock Performance

NYSE:FDX opened at $252.94 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $270.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $277.95. FedEx Co. has a 1-year low of $239.07 and a 1-year high of $313.84. 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 $60.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 1.11 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.14 billion. FedEx had a return on equity of 15.59% and a net margin of 4.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.99 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s payout ratio is 35.18%.

Insider Activity at FedEx

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FDX shares. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of FedEx to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Loop Capital cut FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $365.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on FedEx from $328.00 to $337.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, FedEx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.87.

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.