Aviance Capital Partners LLC Grows Holdings in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,920 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after buying an additional 994 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in FedEx were worth $2,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $234,028,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its position in shares of FedEx by 62.9% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 852,767 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $239,909,000 after acquiring an additional 329,170 shares in the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of FedEx by 22,317.0% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 322,580 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $90,751,000 after acquiring an additional 321,141 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of FedEx by 8.6% during 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. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of FedEx by 197.4% during the 4th 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. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Raymond James lowered FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas raised FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Stephens dropped their target price on FedEx from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on FedEx from $372.00 to $323.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.78.

FedEx Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:FDX opened at $249.67 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $242.92 and a 1-year high of $313.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $276.51.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 period last year, the company posted $3.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. FedEx’s payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

Insider Transactions at FedEx

In other news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total transaction of $1,100,271.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,461,510.80. This trade represents a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $30,984,589.98. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.87% of the company’s stock.

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.