FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Plans Dividend Increase – $1.45 Per Share

FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, June 9th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of 1.45 per share by the shipping service provider on Tuesday, July 8th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. This is a 5.1% increase from FedEx’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38.

FedEx has a payout ratio of 24.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect FedEx to earn $21.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.5%.

FedEx Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of FedEx stock opened at $227.80 on Wednesday. FedEx has a 1-year low of $194.30 and a 1-year high of $313.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $248.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.35.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The shipping service provider reported $4.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.56 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $22.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.96 billion. FedEx had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FedEx will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FDX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $283.00 to $221.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of FedEx from $275.00 to $260.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on FedEx from $364.00 to $354.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.33.

Insider Activity at FedEx

In other news, COO John Alan Smith sold 6,155 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.55, for a total value of $1,499,050.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 23,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,686,161.85. This represents a 20.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FedEx

An institutional investor recently raised its position in FedEx stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 78.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,311 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in FedEx were worth $2,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

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.