Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Trims Stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC reduced its holdings in shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 36.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,671 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 4,374 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in FedEx were worth $2,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. bLong Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter worth $391,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx in the third quarter worth $3,405,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter worth $461,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter worth $26,855,000. 84.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of FedEx from $372.00 to $323.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of FedEx in a research note on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $337.00 target price for the company. Raymond James cut shares of FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of FedEx from $368.00 to $364.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FedEx currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $318.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 3,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.45, for a total value of $1,100,271.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,461,510.80. This trade represents a 30.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John W. Dietrich purchased 1,000 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $273.98 per share, for a total transaction of $273,980.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,067 shares in the company, valued at $2,484,176.66. This trade represents a 12.40 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 8.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

FedEx Price Performance

FedEx stock opened at $253.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $266.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $276.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $242.92 and a 12-month high of $313.84.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The shipping service provider reported $4.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.14 billion. FedEx had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 EPS for the current year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

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.