HM Payson & Co. Increases Stock Holdings in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

HM Payson & Co. lifted its stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 121.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,647 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after buying an additional 904 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $463,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in FedEx by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 256,870 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $70,300,000 after purchasing an additional 10,063 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in FedEx by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,298 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. grew its stake in FedEx by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 7,706 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $2,109,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in FedEx during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,180,000. Finally, United Bank acquired a new stake in FedEx during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $615,000. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John W. Dietrich bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $273.98 per share, for a total transaction of $273,980.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,484,176.66. The trade was a 12.40 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 8.87% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of FedEx stock opened at $253.80 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $266.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $276.07. 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 company has a market capitalization of $61.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.18, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. FedEx Co. has a 1-year low of $242.92 and a 1-year high of $313.84.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last posted 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 company had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors 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 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s payout ratio is 35.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FDX. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on FedEx from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on FedEx in a research report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $337.00 target price for the company. Loop Capital lowered FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $365.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on FedEx from $320.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $318.58.

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.