Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Xerox Put Options (NYSE:XRX)

Xerox Holdings Co. (NYSE:XRX) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 1,689 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,369% compared to the typical volume of 115 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Xerox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Xerox from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Xerox from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Xerox from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.50.

Xerox Trading Down 0.7 %

XRX opened at $8.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $10.37 and a 200-day moving average of $11.88. Xerox has a 52 week low of $8.02 and a 52 week high of $19.78.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information technology services provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Xerox had a negative net margin of 21.31% and a positive return on equity of 6.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Xerox will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xerox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.24%. Xerox’s payout ratio is -9.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Xerox by 42.3% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,353 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 1,888 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Xerox by 42.7% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 73,147 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $778,000 after buying an additional 21,897 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Xerox by 24.3% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,600 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 3,444 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Xerox by 938.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,304 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 7,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Xerox by 1,960.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 163,163 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 155,244 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.36% of the company’s stock.

About Xerox

Xerox Holdings Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a workplace technology company that integrates hardware, services, and software for enterprises in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Print and Other; and FITTLE.