Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Lowers Stock Holdings in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. reduced its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,185 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 1,626 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $3,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in FedEx by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,791 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,281,335,000 after acquiring an additional 67,502 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FedEx by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,042,050,000 after purchasing an additional 314,380 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of FedEx by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,699,179 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $465,031,000 after purchasing an additional 11,100 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in FedEx by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,451,576 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $397,267,000 after purchasing an additional 13,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentry LLC boosted its position in FedEx by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Sentry LLC now owns 1,217,117 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $342,412,000 after buying an additional 5,404 shares during the period. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,886 shares in the company, valued at $30,984,589.98. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP John W. Dietrich acquired 1,000 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $273.98 per share, with a total value 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 $2,484,176.66. This represents a 12.40 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

FedEx Stock Up 2.5 %

FDX stock opened at $258.74 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $276.41 and a 200 day moving average of $281.02. The firm has a market cap of $62.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.18. FedEx Co. has a twelve month low of $234.45 and a twelve month high of $313.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.17. FedEx had a return on equity of 15.59% and a net margin of 4.45%. The firm had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.99 EPS. FedEx’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FDX shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on FedEx from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.87.

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.