Daiwa America Lowers FedEx (NYSE:FDX) to Hold

Daiwa America cut shares of FedEx (NYSE:FDX) from a moderate buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on FDX. TD Cowen initiated coverage on FedEx in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. They set a buy rating and a $334.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $327.00 price target (up previously from $303.00) on shares of FedEx in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Bank of America lifted their price target on FedEx from $340.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Raymond James dropped their price target on FedEx from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on FedEx from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $314.67.

FedEx Price Performance

FedEx stock opened at $286.38 on Wednesday. FedEx has a 52 week low of $224.69 and a 52 week high of $313.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $293.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $273.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $70.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.62, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.17.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 25th. The shipping service provider reported $5.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.34 by $0.07. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 4.94%. The business had revenue of $22.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that FedEx will post 20.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FedEx news, EVP Brie Carere sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.43, for a total transaction of $607,821.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,189,042.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Robert B. Carter sold 16,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.48, for a total value of $4,714,624.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 59,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,634,640.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Brie Carere sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.43, for a total value of $607,821.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,189,042.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,944 shares of company stock worth $9,882,355. Company insiders own 8.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FedEx

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,868,165 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $5,756,602,000 after buying an additional 1,056,061 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,831,084 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $2,558,718,000 after buying an additional 2,163,622 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 2,893,781 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $732,040,000 after buying an additional 798,084 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at $700,291,000. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 43.5% during the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,258,579 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $654,401,000 after buying an additional 684,679 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

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.