Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Xerox (NASDAQ:XRX)

Xerox Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:XRX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 1,689 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,369% compared to the average volume of 115 put options.

Institutional Trading of Xerox

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xerox during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,333,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Xerox in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,871,000. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in Xerox by 275.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 255,861 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 187,753 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Xerox by 71.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Xerox by 92.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,392,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,234,000 after purchasing an additional 669,810 shares during the period. 85.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Xerox from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $2.50 target price (down from $3.50) on shares of Xerox in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings initiated coverage on Xerox in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. They set a “sell (d-)” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Sell” and a consensus price target of $2.50.

Xerox Price Performance

NASDAQ XRX opened at $1.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.06 million, a P/E ratio of -0.15 and a beta of 1.80. Xerox has a 1 year low of $1.22 and a 1 year high of $6.80. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.94, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Xerox (NASDAQ:XRX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Xerox had a negative return on equity of 8.26% and a negative net margin of 14.65%.The business’s revenue was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Xerox will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xerox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.9%. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -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.