Stephens Inc. AR Sells 13,908 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX - Free Report) by 21.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,353 shares of the shipping service provider's stock after selling 13,908 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in FedEx were worth $14,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in FedEx by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 88 shares of the shipping service provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Evermay Wealth Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. City Holding Co. bought a new position in shares of FedEx during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of FedEx in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on FDX shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of FedEx from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of FedEx from $301.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays increased their target price on FedEx from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on FedEx from $328.00 to $337.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on FedEx from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FedEx presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $321.87.

FedEx Price Performance

NYSE:FDX traded up $1.70 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $262.96. 1,952,736 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,722,544. The company has a market cap of $63.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $273.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.68. 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 (NYSE:FDX - Get Free Report) last released its 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 net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The company had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.99 EPS. FedEx's revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $1.38 per share. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. FedEx's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,904 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,510.80. This trade represents a 30.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.93, for a total value of $713,371.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,886 shares in the company, valued at $30,984,589.98. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.