Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stock Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,487 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 213 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in FedEx were worth $4,357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FDX. bLong Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $391,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in FedEx in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,405,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at $461,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in FedEx by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,329 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $631,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter worth $26,855,000. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FedEx Stock Down 5.4 %

Shares of NYSE:FDX opened at $253.97 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $270.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.18. FedEx Co. has a 1 year low of $239.07 and a 1 year high of $313.84. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The company had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.99 earnings per share. FedEx’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total transaction of $713,371.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,984,589.98. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total value of $1,100,271.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,461,510.80. This represents a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on FDX. Barclays increased their price objective on FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of FedEx from $325.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of FedEx from $301.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.