Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Xerox Put Options (NYSE:XRX)

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on XRX shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Xerox from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Xerox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Xerox from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.50.

Xerox Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE XRX opened at $9.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of -0.84 and a beta of 1.59. Xerox has a twelve month low of $8.02 and a twelve month high of $19.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.35.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information technology services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.26). Xerox had a positive return on equity of 6.60% and a negative net margin of 21.31%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Xerox will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Xerox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.83%. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -9.06%.

Institutional Trading of Xerox

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Xerox by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,969,127 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $176,140,000 after purchasing an additional 4,228,806 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Xerox by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,808,775 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,161,000 after buying an additional 62,947 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Xerox by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,719,607 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,850,000 after purchasing an additional 107,580 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Xerox by 27.9% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,033,506 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,728,000 after purchasing an additional 225,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Xerox by 9.5% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 796,609 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $8,269,000 after buying an additional 69,183 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.36% of the company’s stock.

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.