Xerox Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:XRX)

Xerox Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:XRX) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 1,689 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,369% compared to the average volume of 115 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xerox

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Xerox by 71.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,928,444 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,999 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in Xerox by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,476,689 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,312,000 after acquiring an additional 746,582 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Xerox by 89.4% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,182,500 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Xerox by 3.4% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,898,380 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,004,000 after purchasing an additional 61,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in shares of Xerox by 10.8% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,851,034 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,960,000 after purchasing an additional 181,023 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.36% of the company’s stock.

Xerox Stock Performance

Shares of XRX stock opened at $2.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $271.44 million, a PE ratio of -0.26 and a beta of 1.72. Xerox has a 52-week low of $2.03 and a 52-week high of $8.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.94.

Shares of Xerox are going to split before the market opens on Monday, February 9th. The 3-2 split was recently announced. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Sunday, February 8th.

Xerox (NASDAQ:XRX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.25). Xerox had a negative net margin of 14.65% and a negative return on equity of 8.26%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Xerox will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on XRX shares. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $2.50 price objective (down from $3.50) on shares of Xerox in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research raised Xerox from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings assumed coverage on Xerox in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. They issued a “sell (d-)” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $2.50.

About Xerox

Xerox Holdings Corporation (NYSE: XRX) is a global provider of document management technology and services. The company designs and manufactures a broad range of multifunction printers, production printers, digital presses and related consumables. In addition to its hardware offerings, Xerox delivers software and workflow automation solutions, managed print services and cloud-based document platforms that help organizations optimize their information-intensive processes.

Founded in 1906 as The Haloid Photographic Company, Xerox pioneered xerographic imaging in the late 1940s, launching the first plain-paper copier in 1959.