Orca Wealth Management LLC Buys New Holdings in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Orca Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,151 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in FedEx in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,405,000. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of FedEx by 6.4% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 45,909 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $12,564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,767 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings 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. Persium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter worth about $530,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in FedEx by 137.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 227,965 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $64,133,000 after acquiring an additional 132,036 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE FDX opened at $278.78 on Wednesday. FedEx Co. has a 12-month low of $234.45 and a 12-month high of $313.84. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $281.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $283.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.14 billion, a PE ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 15.59% and a net margin of 4.45%. The company had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FedEx

In related news, Director Amy B. Lane bought 333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $276.06 per share, for a total transaction of $91,927.98. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,927.98. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,984,589.98. The trade was 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 owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on FDX. Stephens reduced their price objective on FedEx from $350.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $337.00 to $316.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on FedEx from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on FedEx from $325.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.43.

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.