SFE Investment Counsel Trims Stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

SFE Investment Counsel reduced its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,734 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 908 shares during the quarter. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in FedEx were worth $3,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RB Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of FedEx by 3.3% during the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. AMI Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of FedEx by 43.9% during the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,385 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $3,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,693 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of FedEx by 101.5% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $989,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of FedEx by 7.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 148,735 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $34,408,000 after acquiring an additional 10,731 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of FedEx by 553.3% during the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 392 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. 84.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FedEx news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total value of $31,105,620.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 14,505,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,978,953,009.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Guy M. Erwin II sold 2,749 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.11, for a total value of $794,763.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,507.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $31,105,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 14,505,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,978,953,009.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 136,668 shares of company stock worth $37,758,773. 8.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FDX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Melius Research raised shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of FedEx from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of FedEx from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of FedEx from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.33.

FedEx Stock Performance

FDX traded down $0.11 on Thursday, reaching $262.96. The stock had a trading volume of 493,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,077,665. FedEx Co. has a 12-month low of $213.80 and a 12-month high of $291.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $258.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $254.11. The company has a market cap of $64.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.21.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The shipping service provider reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $21.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.95 billion. FedEx had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 17.67 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the shipping service provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. FedEx’s payout ratio is presently 29.07%.

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.