HSBC Lowers FedEx (NYSE:FDX) to Hold

HSBC cut shares of FedEx (NYSE:FDX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. HSBC currently has $300.00 price objective on the shipping service provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on FDX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised FedEx from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and raised their target price for the stock from $296.00 to $359.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of FedEx from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, August 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of FedEx from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of FedEx from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and cut their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on FedEx from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $315.95.

FedEx Price Performance

Shares of FedEx stock opened at $254.64 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $292.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $275.22. FedEx has a fifty-two week low of $224.69 and a fifty-two week high of $313.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $62.66 billion, a PE ratio of 14.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.17.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The shipping service provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by ($1.22). The firm had revenue of $21.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 4.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that FedEx will post 20.82 EPS for the current year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. FedEx’s payout ratio is 32.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Guy M. Erwin II sold 116 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.24, for a total transaction of $34,711.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $278,293.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other FedEx news, CAO Guy M. Erwin II sold 116 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.24, for a total value of $34,711.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $278,293.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sriram Krishnasamy sold 8,421 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.14, for a total transaction of $2,611,688.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,797,974.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,944 shares of company stock valued at $9,882,355. 8.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FedEx

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in FedEx in the fourth quarter worth $324,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in FedEx during the 4th quarter worth $267,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in FedEx by 38.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 153,907 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $38,934,000 after acquiring an additional 42,844 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FedEx by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 60,413 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $15,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of FedEx by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 113,778 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $28,782,000 after purchasing an additional 3,955 shares during the period. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.