Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 955 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FDX. Sentry LLC bought a new stake in FedEx in the 4th quarter worth $1,811,748,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at about $700,291,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in FedEx by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,667,462 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,686,738,000 after acquiring an additional 880,894 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC raised its holdings in FedEx by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 2,893,781 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $732,040,000 after buying an additional 798,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in FedEx by 33,890.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 651,597 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $166,972,000 after buying an additional 649,680 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at FedEx

In other news, EVP Tracy B. Brightman sold 2,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.69, for a total transaction of $703,009.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,735,192.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total value of $31,105,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 14,505,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,978,953,009.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Tracy B. Brightman sold 2,550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.69, for a total value of $703,009.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,735,192.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 117,275 shares of company stock valued at $32,177,298. Corporate insiders own 8.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FDX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of FedEx from $351.00 to $318.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FedEx from $310.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of FedEx in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of FedEx from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas restated an “underperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of FedEx in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.00.

FedEx Stock Performance

FDX traded up $4.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $299.84. 4,206,407 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,952,393. FedEx Co. has a 1 year low of $224.69 and a 1 year high of $302.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $256.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.00.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 25th. The shipping service provider reported $5.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.34 by $0.07. FedEx had a net margin of 4.94% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The company had revenue of $22.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.94 EPS. FedEx’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that FedEx Co. will post 20.53 earnings per share 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 company 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 dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 24th. This is an increase from FedEx’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.26. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is 32.04%.

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.