Insider Selling Reported At FedEx Corporation (FDX), Weyerhaeuser Co (WY), And Others

FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) also witnessed some insider selling this past week. President and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Express David J. Bronczek reported selling 39,499 shares on Friday at a weighted average price of $148.71, after 26,632 non-qualified stock options were exercised. The CEO also offered 4,130 shares as a bona-fide gift on the same day. Following these recent transactions, the Executive currently holds a direct ownership stake of 52,280 shares. The shares of this package-delivery company are 16% in the red year-to-date, but the stock trades at a very appealing forward P/E ratio of 12.13 (assuming that analysts’ earnings estimates are accurate). This compares with the average of 17.19 for the companies included in the S&P 500 Index. FedEx reported average daily package volume of 11.89 million packages for the second quarter of 2016 that ended November 30, up from 11.18 million reported a year ago. It should be mentioned that the company’s fuel expenses for the first half of 2016 dropped 39% year-on-year as a result of lower aircraft fuel prices. It is widely known that December represents the busiest month of the year for package-shipping companies, so it remains to see how FedEx manages to capitalize on the increased activity in the e-commerce space. A total of 53 hedge funds from our database had the company in their portfolios at the end of the third quarter, accumulating 10.20% of its stock. Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management holds 6.39 million shares of FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) as of September 30.

Let’s conclude our discussion by looking into the insider selling activity at Weyerhaeuser Co (NYSE:WY). Senior Vice President Denise M. Merle reported selling 2,580 shares on Thursday at prices in the range of $30.74 and $30.75 per share, and currently holds 19,990 shares. The real estate investment trust (REIT) that generates income from investments in timberlands has seen its stock decline by 17% this year. In the meantime, the stock trades at a rather expensive trailing P/E ratio of 27.24. At the beginning of November, Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE:PCL), a timber, land and forest products company, sealed a merger agreement under which Plum Creek shareholders were set to receive 1.60 shares of Weyerhaeuser for each share of Plum Creek. The recovery pace of the U.S. housing market positively correlates with some of Weyerhaeuser’s business segments, so it can be expected that the company will generate strong growth in the upcoming year if considering the current employment growth, strengthening consumer confidence and low mortgage rates. However, the declining export demand from China and Japan is anticipated to weight on the company’s operations. John Khoury’s Long Pond Capital added a 2.35 million-share position in Weyerhaeuser Co (NYSE:WY) to its portfolio during the third quarter.

Disclosure: None