Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for XPO (NYSE:XPO) Stock

XPO (NYSE:XPO) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Barclays from $125.00 to $135.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.28% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Vertical Research raised XPO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of XPO from $142.00 to $126.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of XPO from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of XPO from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of XPO from $132.00 to $121.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, XPO has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.63.

XPO Price Performance

NYSE XPO traded up $1.77 during trading on Monday, hitting $120.24. 303,016 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,773,010. The company has a market cap of $14.17 billion, a PE ratio of 37.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $108.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.67. XPO has a fifty-two week low of $85.06 and a fifty-two week high of $161.00.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. XPO had a return on equity of 30.36% and a net margin of 4.81%. XPO’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. Research analysts expect that XPO will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

XPO announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 27th that allows the company to repurchase $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to buy up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at XPO

In other news, COO David J. Bates bought 1,880 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $106.16 per share, with a total value of $199,580.80. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 21,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,240,612.96. The trade was a 9.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XPO

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Choreo LLC grew its position in XPO by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,978 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of XPO in the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of XPO by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,138 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $149,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in XPO by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 21,575 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in XPO in the fourth quarter worth about $163,938,000. Institutional investors own 97.73% of the company’s stock.

XPO Company Profile

XPO, Inc provides freight transportation services in the United States, rest of North America, France, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American LTL and European Transportation. The North American LTL segment provides customers with less-than-truckload (LTL) services, such as geographic density and day-definite domestic services.