Investors Buy High Volume of Xerox Put Options (NYSE:XRX)

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Xerox from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Xerox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Xerox from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.50.

Institutional Trading of Xerox

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of XRX. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Xerox during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Xerox by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,353 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,888 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Xerox in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $78,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Xerox by 938.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 7,504 shares during the period. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Xerox by 45.0% during the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 9,346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 2,899 shares in the last quarter. 85.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xerox Price Performance

Shares of XRX stock opened at $9.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of -0.84 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $8.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.35. Xerox has a 12 month low of $8.02 and a 12 month high of $19.78.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information technology services provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. Analysts predict that Xerox will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Xerox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.83%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio is presently -9.06%.

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.