155,000 Shares in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Bought by Empyrean Capital Partners LP

Empyrean Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 155,000 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $46,475,000. FedEx accounts for 2.7% of Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of FedEx by 32.5% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,831,084 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $2,558,718,000 after buying an additional 2,163,622 shares during the period. Sentry LLC bought a new stake in shares of FedEx in the 4th quarter worth approximately $307,007,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of FedEx by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,868,165 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock worth $5,756,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056,061 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in shares of FedEx by 38.1% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 2,893,781 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $732,040,000 after purchasing an additional 798,084 shares during the period. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of FedEx by 43.5% during the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,258,579 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $654,401,000 after purchasing an additional 684,679 shares during the period. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of FedEx from $347.00 to $345.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Daiwa America cut shares of FedEx from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of FedEx from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on FedEx from $327.00 to $321.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on FedEx from $333.00 to $332.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FedEx presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FedEx news, CEO Sriram Krishnasamy sold 8,421 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.14, for a total value of $2,611,688.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,797,974.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other FedEx news, CEO Sriram Krishnasamy sold 8,421 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.14, for a total value of $2,611,688.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,797,974.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Robert B. Carter sold 16,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.48, for a total value of $4,714,624.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,634,640.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,944 shares of company stock valued at $9,882,355 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.73% of the company’s stock.

FedEx Stock Performance

FDX stock opened at $263.80 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $290.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.42. FedEx Co. has a fifty-two week low of $224.69 and a fifty-two week high of $313.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.17.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 19th. The shipping service provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by ($1.22). The firm had revenue of $21.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. FedEx had a return on equity of 15.61% and a net margin of 4.62%. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that FedEx Co. will post 19.66 EPS for the current year.

FedEx Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.04%.

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.