On Wednesday, the volume of options activity in Xerox Holdings Co. (NYSE: XRX) was significantly higher than typical. As a result, shareholders purchased a total of 1,689 put options on the stock. Compared to the daily average of 115 put options, this is a 1,369% increase in volume.
Recent months have seen significant shifts in the corporation’s holdings by institutional investors and hedge funds. During the first three months of the year, IndexIQ Advisors LLC added 13.7% more stock in Xerox to its holdings. After making an extra purchase of 2,389 shares during that time, IndexIQ Advisors LLC now has 19,789 shares of the information technology services company, which are worth a combined total of $399,000. During the second quarter, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new investment in Xerox by paying a total of $346,000. In addition, during the first three months of the year, AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC made a 46.1% investment increase in Xerox. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 64,356 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at $1,298,000 following the acquisition of an additional 20,298 shares. During the second quarter, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Xerox by 7.8 percentage points. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 628,316 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,339 shares. The current worth of these shares is $9,330,000. Last but not least, during the first quarter, Garnet Equity Capital Holdings Inc. purchased Xerox shares worth a total of $202,000. Institutional investors own 94.58% of the company’s stock.
Several equity research experts have recently expressed interest in the XRX stock. Morgan Stanley lowered its price objective on Xerox from $14.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report published on Monday, October 17th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Xerox from $15.00 to $10.00 and assigned the stock a “sell” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, October 26th. The Credit Suisse Group lowered their target price for Xerox from $14.00 to $13.00 and assigned the stock an “underperform” rating in a report made public on Tuesday, October 18th. On October 12th, StockNews.com started reporting on Xerox after much anticipation. They recommended that investors “hold on” to the shares. The advice of four investment analysts is to sell the stock, while the advice of one analyst is to keep the shares. According to the data from Bloomberg, the stock is currently pegged with an average recommendation of “Reduce” and an average price objective of $12.00.
The opening price of the XRX stock on Thursday was $15.25. The debt-to-equity ratio is currently at 0.82, the quick ratio is currently at 0.93, and the current ratio is currently at 1.17. The company’s simple moving average for the past 50 days is $14.91, and the simple moving average for the past 200 days is $16.18. The stock carries a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.22 and a beta value of 1.71. The market capitalization of the company is $2.37 billion. The 52-week low for Xerox is $11.80, while the 52-week high for the stock is $24.14.
On Tuesday, October 25th, Xerox (NYSE: XRX) shared its most recent quarterly results report with the investing community. The provider of information technology services announced earnings per share of $0.19 for the quarter, which was $0.21 less than the consensus forecast of $0.40 from financial analysts. In comparison to the generally accepted forecast of $1.76 billion, the actual revenue that the corporation brought in for the quarter was $1.75 billion. Xerox had a net margin that was negative by 16.10% and a return on equity that was positive by 2.66%. Xerox’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the previous year. During the same period the prior year, the company generated earnings of $0.48 per share. This year, market watchers anticipate that Xerox will generate $0.75 per share earnings.
In addition, the company has announced a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled to be distributed on Tuesday, January 3rd. On Saturday, December 31st, owners of record will be eligible to receive $0.25 dividend payments per share. This translates to a dividend payment of $1.00 yearly, with a dividend yield of 6.56%. The date that shareholders will not get a dividend is Thursday, December 29thed, to be distributed on Tuesday, January 3rd. On Saturday, December 31st, owners of record will be eligible to receive $0.25 dividend payments per share. This translates to a dividend payment of $1.00 yearly, with a dividend yield of 6.56%. The date shareholders will not get a dividend is Thursday, December 29th. Currently, 14.53% of Xerox’s earnings are distributed to shareholders as dividends.
Read More: Xerox is the subject of unusually high options trading.