FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Director Paul S. Walsh Sells 2,535 Shares

FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Director Paul S. Walsh sold 2,535 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.72, for a total value of $747,115.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,345,646.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

FedEx Stock Performance

NYSE FDX opened at $299.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.40, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.16. FedEx Co. has a twelve month low of $224.69 and a twelve month high of $302.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $258.10 and a 200 day moving average of $256.48.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 25th. The shipping service provider reported $5.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.34 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $22.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 billion. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 4.94%. FedEx’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that FedEx Co. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the shipping service provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

FedEx Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 24th will be issued a $1.38 dividend. This is a boost from FedEx’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 24th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.04%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FedEx

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FDX. Sentry LLC acquired a new position in shares of FedEx during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,811,748,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of FedEx during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $700,291,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 32.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,831,084 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $2,558,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163,622 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 5.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,868,165 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $5,756,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 38.1% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 2,893,781 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $732,040,000 after acquiring an additional 798,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on FDX. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on FedEx from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on FedEx from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on FedEx from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on FedEx from $340.00 to $333.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.00.

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.