Retirement Systems of Alabama Decreases Position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,978 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 1,342 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in FedEx were worth $12,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FDX. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 9.3% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 4,897 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 26.1% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 52,216 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $13,833,000 after buying an additional 10,799 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 19.3% in the third quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 754 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 17.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 512,891 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $135,875,000 after buying an additional 75,732 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of FedEx by 12.8% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 13,057 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $3,459,000 after buying an additional 1,482 shares during the period. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FedEx Stock Performance

Shares of FDX stock opened at $260.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $263.57 and a 200 day moving average of $254.76. FedEx Co. has a 1 year low of $213.80 and a 1 year high of $291.27.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The shipping service provider reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $21.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.95 billion. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 5.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that FedEx Co. will post 17.69 earnings per share for the current year.

FedEx declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 21st that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the shipping service provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. FedEx’s payout ratio is currently 29.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FedEx

In other FedEx news, VP Guy M. Erwin II sold 2,749 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.11, for a total transaction of $794,763.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,507.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other FedEx news, VP Guy M. Erwin II sold 2,749 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.11, for a total transaction of $794,763.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,507.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total value of $31,105,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 14,505,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,978,953,009.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 136,668 shares of company stock worth $37,758,773. Insiders own 8.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FDX shares. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on FedEx from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on FedEx from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on FedEx from $293.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on FedEx from $327.00 to $351.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FedEx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.33.

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.