Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 10,063 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 256,870 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,063 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of FedEx worth $70,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in FedEx by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,791 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,281,335,000 after acquiring an additional 67,502 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of FedEx by 8.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,042,050,000 after purchasing an additional 314,380 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in FedEx by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,248,137 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $674,336,000 after purchasing an additional 578,350 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in FedEx by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,182,504 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $654,312,000 after purchasing an additional 121,240 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in FedEx by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,699,179 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $465,031,000 after buying an additional 11,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Stock Performance

NYSE:FDX opened at $275.73 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $282.71 and its 200-day moving average is $282.10. The stock has a market cap of $67.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.18. FedEx Co. has a 1-year low of $234.45 and a 1-year high of $313.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.17. FedEx had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 15.61%. The firm had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that FedEx Co. will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FDX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of FedEx from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen increased their price target on FedEx from $328.00 to $337.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.88.

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.