Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Sells 4,429 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,538 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 4,429 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in FedEx were worth $18,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FDX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of FedEx by 473.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 784,691 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $2,147,540,000 after purchasing an additional 647,926 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,042,050,000 after buying an additional 314,380 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in FedEx by 197.4% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 341,390 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $96,043,000 after buying an additional 226,608 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of FedEx by 2,163.7% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 192,441 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $52,667,000 after buying an additional 183,940 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FedEx during the fourth quarter valued at $49,445,000. 84.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FedEx Price Performance

Shares of FDX traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $278.81. 94,235 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,446,805. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. FedEx Co. has a 1 year low of $234.45 and a 1 year high of $313.84. The company has a market cap of $67.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $281.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $282.86.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.14 billion. FedEx had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. FedEx’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on FDX. BNP Paribas raised FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $288.00 to $365.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of FedEx from $301.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on FedEx from $328.00 to $337.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FedEx has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total transaction of $1,100,271.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,461,510.80. This represents a 30.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total value of $713,371.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,984,589.98. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.