Meitav Investment House Ltd. Reduces Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Meitav Investment House Ltd. lowered its position in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 58.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,724 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 3,910 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in FedEx by 473.8% during 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 buying an additional 647,926 shares during the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its position in FedEx by 22,317.0% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 322,580 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $90,751,000 after purchasing an additional 321,141 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in 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 during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 197.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 341,390 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $96,043,000 after acquiring an additional 226,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $52,667,000 after acquiring an additional 183,940 shares during the period. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FDX has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of 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 report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of FedEx from $301.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of FedEx from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.87.

FedEx Trading Down 0.2 %

FDX stock opened at $267.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $64.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $271.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.45. FedEx Co. has a 52 week low of $235.32 and a 52 week high of $313.84.

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

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. FedEx’s payout ratio is currently 35.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FedEx news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were 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 directly owns 111,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,984,589.98. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John W. Dietrich acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $273.98 per share, with a total value of $273,980.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,484,176.66. This represents a 12.40 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.87% 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.