FedEx (NYSE:FDX) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of FedEx (NYSE:FDX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $275.00 target price on the shipping service provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $300.00.

FDX has been the topic of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on FedEx from $350.00 to $331.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America dropped their price target on FedEx from $295.00 to $272.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of FedEx from $347.00 to $317.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $300.60.

FedEx Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of FedEx stock opened at $243.78 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $257.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.55. FedEx has a fifty-two week low of $217.22 and a fifty-two week high of $313.84. The firm has a market cap of $58.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The shipping service provider reported $4.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.56 by ($0.05). FedEx had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The business had revenue of $22.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.86 earnings per share. FedEx’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that FedEx will post 19.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. FedEx’s payout ratio is currently 34.63%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FDX. United Bank acquired a new stake in shares of FedEx in the 3rd quarter valued at about $615,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of FedEx during the third quarter worth about $123,000. Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its position in FedEx by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC bought a new stake in FedEx in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in FedEx by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 60,345 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $16,538,000 after acquiring an additional 16,931 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.47% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Company 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.