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

Xerox Holdings Co. (NYSE:XRX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 1,689 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,369% compared to the average volume of 115 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on XRX. Citigroup lowered their target price on Xerox from $4.50 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research lowered Xerox from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xerox currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $3.50.

Xerox Trading Down 10.4%

Xerox stock opened at $2.25 on Thursday. Xerox has a 12 month low of $2.10 and a 12 month high of $9.91. The company has a market capitalization of $288.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.21 and a beta of 1.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information technology services provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.38. Xerox had a positive return on equity of 7.57% and a negative net margin of 21.24%.The company’s revenue was up 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Xerox will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xerox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Xerox by 71.0% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,928,444 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,703,000 after buying an additional 1,630,999 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xerox during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,333,000. Private Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Xerox in the second quarter worth approximately $5,513,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Xerox by 123.2% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,528,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,746,000 after purchasing an additional 843,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Xerox by 43.2% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 746,582 shares during the period. 85.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.