FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $318.58.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on FedEx in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $337.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein cut FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Loop Capital downgraded FedEx from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $365.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on FedEx from $320.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Insider Transactions at FedEx

In other FedEx news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total value of $1,100,271.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,904 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,510.80. The trade was a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total transaction of $713,371.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,984,589.98. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.87% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FedEx

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FDX. bLong Financial LLC bought a new stake in FedEx during the fourth quarter worth about $391,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,405,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in FedEx during the 4th quarter worth approximately $461,000. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of FedEx by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,329 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in FedEx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,855,000. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FedEx Stock Performance

Shares of FedEx stock opened at $243.66 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $58.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. FedEx has a one year low of $239.50 and a one year high of $313.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $264.35 and its 200-day moving average is $275.13.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $22.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that FedEx will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is 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.