Principal Securities Inc. Boosts Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,552 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in FedEx were worth $2,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. bLong Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of FedEx in the 4th quarter valued at $391,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx during the third quarter worth about $3,405,000. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,329 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,855,000. Finally, Persium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in FedEx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $530,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other FedEx news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 8,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,461,510.80. This represents a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Amy B. Lane purchased 333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $276.06 per share, with a total value of $91,927.98. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,927.98. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 8.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on FedEx from $325.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of FedEx from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Loop Capital cut FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $365.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.87.

FedEx Stock Performance

NYSE FDX opened at $267.83 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $272.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $278.92. The company has a market capitalization of $64.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.07, a PEG ratio of 1.07 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

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.