Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Sells 6,664 Shares of FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in shares of FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) by 80.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,643 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock after selling 6,664 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in FedEx were worth $401,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of FedEx by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,604 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of FedEx by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 5,897 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of FedEx by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 3,615 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of FedEx by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of FedEx by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the shipping service provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 84.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on FedEx from $311.00 to $297.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on FedEx from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. BNP Paribas Exane raised FedEx from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (down from $275.00) on shares of FedEx in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised FedEx from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.25.

FedEx Trading Down 2.9%

NYSE FDX opened at $217.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. FedEx Corporation has a twelve month low of $194.29 and a twelve month high of $308.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.20 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $227.85 and its 200 day moving average is $235.19.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 24th. The shipping service provider reported $6.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.98 by $0.09. FedEx had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 4.65%. The company had revenue of $22.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.41 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that FedEx Corporation will post 19.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FedEx Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. This is a boost from FedEx’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. FedEx’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.36%.

Insider Activity at FedEx

In other FedEx news, Director Marvin R. Ellison sold 3,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.94, for a total value of $855,353.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,829,176.80. The trade was a 31.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paul S. Walsh sold 3,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.29, for a total value of $860,226.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,513 shares in the company, valued at $3,696,592.77. This trade represents a 18.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,343 shares of company stock worth $2,228,816 over the last ninety days. 8.87% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.