Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Xerox (NYSE:XRX)

Xerox Holdings Co. (NYSE:XRX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 1,689 put options on the company. This is an increase of 1,369% compared to the average daily volume of 115 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XRX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Xerox from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Xerox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xerox

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Xerox by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 45,742 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Xerox by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 64,642 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,185,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Xerox by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,257 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Arden Trust Co increased its holdings in Xerox by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Arden Trust Co now owns 36,561 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $670,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Xerox by 3.0% in the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 33,635 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 975 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.36% of the company’s stock.

Xerox Price Performance

NYSE XRX opened at $13.06 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.32 and a beta of 1.56. Xerox has a 52-week low of $12.06 and a 52-week high of $19.78.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $1.50 billion during 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%. Xerox’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Xerox will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xerox Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.66%. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio is currently -63.69%.

Xerox Company Profile

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.