Vontobel Holding Ltd. Raises Holdings in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,902 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after buying an additional 230 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $4,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of FedEx by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 94,227 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $23,918,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FedEx by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 610,822 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $154,520,000 after purchasing an additional 15,700 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter worth $2,840,000. Capital Advisors Inc. OK purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter worth $227,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx during the 4th quarter worth $3,542,000. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FDX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas restated an “underperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of FedEx in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on FedEx from $327.00 to $351.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on FedEx from $291.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on FedEx from $306.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FedEx news, VP Guy M. Erwin II sold 2,749 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.11, for a total transaction of $794,763.39. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 486 shares in the company, valued at $140,507.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total value of $31,105,620.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 14,505,844 shares in the company, valued at $3,978,953,009.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guy M. Erwin II sold 2,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.11, for a total value of $794,763.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,507.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 136,668 shares of company stock worth $37,758,773. 8.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

FedEx Stock Down 0.7 %

FedEx stock opened at $263.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $64.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. FedEx Co. has a 52 week low of $213.80 and a 52 week high of $291.27. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $258.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $254.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The shipping service provider reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $21.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.95 billion. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 5.02%. FedEx’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FedEx Co. will post 17.67 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.07%.

FedEx declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 21st that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the shipping service provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.