California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 32,025 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its position in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 372,299 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 32,025 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in FedEx were worth $104,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in FedEx by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,199,506 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $5,682,727,000 after purchasing an additional 56,236 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of FedEx by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,791 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,281,335,000 after buying an additional 67,502 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of FedEx by 8.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,975,531 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,042,050,000 after buying an additional 314,380 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of FedEx in the fourth quarter worth approximately $807,352,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in FedEx by 0.7% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,699,179 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $465,031,000 after acquiring an additional 11,100 shares during the last quarter. 84.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital lowered shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $283.00 to $221.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of FedEx from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $300.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered FedEx from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $337.00 to $316.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.71.

FedEx Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:FDX opened at $244.07 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $255.97 and its 200 day moving average is $270.59. FedEx Co. has a 12-month low of $217.22 and a 12-month high of $313.84. The stock has a market cap of $58.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a PEG 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 data on Thursday, March 20th. The shipping service provider reported $4.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.56 by ($0.05). FedEx had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 15.59%. The company had revenue of $22.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.86 earnings per share. FedEx’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard W. Smith sold 2,576 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,984,589.98. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John W. Dietrich purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were acquired 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,484,176.66. This trade represents a 12.40 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,711 shares of company stock valued at $3,312,693 in the last 90 days. 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.