Equitable Trust Co. Buys 1,453 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Equitable Trust Co. increased its stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX - Free Report) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,159 shares of the shipping service provider's stock after buying an additional 1,453 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.'s holdings in FedEx were worth $2,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FDX. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in FedEx by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 88 shares of the shipping service provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in FedEx by 72.7% in the third quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the shipping service provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP. purchased a new stake in FedEx in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in FedEx in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in FedEx in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. 84.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of FedEx from a "strong sell" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of FedEx from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $337.00 to $316.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of FedEx from $311.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of FedEx from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $321.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total transaction of $713,371.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,886 shares in the company, valued at $30,984,589.98. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were 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 $2,461,510.80. The trade was a 30.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.87% of the company's stock.

FedEx Stock Performance

FDX traded up $4.71 during trading on Friday, hitting $267.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,264,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,693,311. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. FedEx Co. has a one year low of $234.45 and a one year high of $313.84. The firm has a market cap of $64.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.18. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $272.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.45.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.17. FedEx had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The business had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.99 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 given a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. FedEx's payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

FedEx 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.