Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Xerox Call Options (NYSE:XRX)

Xerox Holdings Co. (NYSE:XRX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 3,482 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 86% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,870 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on XRX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Xerox from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com raised Xerox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Xerox in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They set a “sell” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock.

Institutional Trading of Xerox

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in XRX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Xerox by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,791,263 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,765,000 after buying an additional 1,464,851 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xerox during the 4th quarter worth $17,470,000. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xerox during the 4th quarter worth $14,832,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Xerox by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,766,610 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,718,000 after purchasing an additional 531,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Xerox in the 4th quarter valued at $9,435,000. 85.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xerox Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Xerox stock opened at $11.73 on Wednesday. Xerox has a fifty-two week low of $11.44 and a fifty-two week high of $19.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of -7.47 and a beta of 1.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $13.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.29). The business had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Xerox had a positive return on equity of 7.77% and a negative net margin of 2.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Xerox will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Xerox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.53%. Xerox’s payout ratio is -63.69%.

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.