Xerox Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:XRX)

Xerox Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:XRX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 1,689 put options on the company. This is an increase of 1,369% compared to the typical daily volume of 115 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in XRX. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Xerox by 339.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,294,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,028,000 after purchasing an additional 7,178,915 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,630,999 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Xerox by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,498,232 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $8,291,000 after buying an additional 854,119 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Xerox by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,915,580 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,911,000 after buying an additional 571,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in shares of Xerox by 43.2% during 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 buying an additional 746,582 shares during the period. 85.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on XRX. Weiss Ratings initiated coverage on shares of Xerox in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. They issued a “sell (d-)” rating on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Xerox from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $2.50 target price (down from $3.50) on shares of Xerox in a report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xerox currently has a consensus rating of “Sell” and an average price target of $2.50.

Xerox Stock Up 3.5%

Xerox stock opened at $1.47 on Friday. Xerox has a 12 month low of $1.34 and a 12 month high of $6.80. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.94. The firm has a market cap of $189.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.18 and a beta of 1.71.

Xerox (NASDAQ:XRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Xerox will post 1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xerox Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.025 per share. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1.22%.

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.