FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Shares Acquired by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 131.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,409 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,368 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in FedEx were worth $21,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in FedEx by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,791 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,281,335,000 after acquiring an additional 67,502 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 314,380 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of FedEx by 0.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 11,100 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of FedEx by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,451,576 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $397,267,000 after acquiring an additional 13,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentry LLC grew its holdings in FedEx by 0.4% in the 4th 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 last quarter. 84.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total transaction 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 $30,984,589.98. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 8,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,461,510.80. The trade was a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.87% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:FDX opened at $268.49 on Friday. FedEx Co. has a 52-week low of $238.21 and a 52-week high of $313.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $271.34 and a 200 day moving average of $278.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.67 billion, a PE ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.23.

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

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s payout ratio is 35.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FDX. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on FedEx from $328.00 to $337.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on FedEx from $368.00 to $364.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.87.

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.