Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Xerox (NASDAQ:XRX)

Xerox Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:XRX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 1,689 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,369% compared to the typical daily volume of 115 put options.

Xerox Trading Down 7.0%

NASDAQ XRX opened at $2.54 on Thursday. Xerox has a fifty-two week low of $1.19 and a fifty-two week high of $6.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.04, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.22. The stock has a market cap of $332.18 million, a P/E ratio of -0.31 and a beta of 2.28.

Xerox (NASDAQ:XRX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information technology services provider reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by $0.09. Xerox had a negative return on equity of 12.08% and a negative net margin of 14.09%.The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.06) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Xerox will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Xerox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1.20%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xerox

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Xerox in the third quarter worth $4,333,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Xerox in the third quarter worth $1,871,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Xerox by 92.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,392,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,234,000 after purchasing an additional 669,810 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in Xerox in the third quarter worth $1,629,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Xerox by 104.5% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,585,215 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,900,000 after purchasing an additional 809,861 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on XRX. Zacks Research upgraded Xerox from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xerox in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $2.50 price target (down from $3.50) on shares of Xerox in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Xerox currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $2.50.

Xerox Company Profile

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.