Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 338 Shares of FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,051 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in FedEx were worth $4,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FedEx by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,729,110 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $4,961,716,000 after purchasing an additional 59,161 shares during the period. Sentry LLC acquired a new stake in FedEx in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,811,748,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in FedEx by 29.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,063,938 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,076,619,000 after buying an additional 916,555 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 1.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,238,185 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $857,860,000 after purchasing an additional 35,085 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of FedEx by 13.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,004,838 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $796,042,000 after purchasing an additional 360,680 shares during the period. 84.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FedEx news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chairman now owns 14,505,844 shares in the company, valued at $3,978,953,009.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other FedEx news, Chairman Frederick W. Smith sold 113,400 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $31,105,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 14,505,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,978,953,009.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sriram Krishnasamy sold 354 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.19, for a total transaction of $102,373.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,223,600.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 136,668 shares of company stock worth $37,758,773 over the last quarter. 8.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of FedEx from $346.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of FedEx from $291.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of FedEx in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of FedEx from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of FedEx from $323.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FedEx presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.33.

FedEx Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of FDX stock traded down $1.03 on Tuesday, hitting $259.26. 963,630 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,943,547. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $264.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $255.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.80 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.23. FedEx Co. has a twelve month low of $213.80 and a twelve month high of $291.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.31.

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

FedEx declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, March 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the shipping service provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. FedEx’s payout ratio is 29.07%.

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.