FedEx (NYSE:FDX) Stock Price Up 1.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)’s stock price traded up 1.1% during trading on Monday after Bernstein Bank raised their price target on the stock from $305.00 to $337.00. Bernstein Bank currently has an overweight rating on the stock. FedEx traded as high as $259.44 and last traded at $257.43. 1,172,594 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 1,852,357 shares. The stock had previously closed at $254.64.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on FDX. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of FedEx from $334.00 to $328.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on FedEx from $340.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of FedEx from $347.00 to $345.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $327.00 target price (up previously from $303.00) on shares of FedEx in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered FedEx from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $215.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FedEx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Robert B. Carter sold 16,010 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $4,714,624.80. Following the transaction, 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 available at this link. In related news, EVP Robert B. Carter sold 16,010 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $4,714,624.80. Following the transaction, 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 available at this link. Also, CEO Sriram Krishnasamy sold 8,421 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.14, for a total value of $2,611,688.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,797,974.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,944 shares of company stock worth $9,882,355. 8.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of FedEx by 5.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,056,061 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 32.5% in 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% in 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. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 43.5% in 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. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 34.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,248,137 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $674,336,000 after buying an additional 578,350 shares during the period. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FedEx Stock Up 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $292.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.17.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The shipping service provider reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.82 by ($1.22). The firm had revenue of $21.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 4.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FedEx Co. will post 20.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.