Investors Buy Large Volume of Xerox Put Options (NYSE:XRX)

Xerox Holdings Co. (NYSE:XRX - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 1,689 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,369% compared to the average volume of 115 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xerox

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of XRX. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Xerox by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 68,359 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 14,164 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Xerox by 2.3% in 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. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Xerox by 55.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 469,106 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,869,000 after buying an additional 167,500 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Xerox by 44.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 152,380 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,582,000 after acquiring an additional 46,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Xerox by 39.2% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 38,312 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 10,794 shares during the last quarter. 85.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XRX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Xerox from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Xerox from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Xerox from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Xerox from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $9.50.

Xerox Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:XRX traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $8.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,536,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,172,524. Xerox has a 12-month low of $8.02 and a 12-month high of $19.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.29 and a 200-day moving average of $10.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information technology services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Xerox had a negative net margin of 21.31% and a positive return on equity of 6.60%. Xerox's revenue for the quarter was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Xerox will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Xerox Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.52%. Xerox's dividend payout ratio is currently -9.06%.

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.