Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 6,142 Shares of The ODP Co. (NASDAQ:ODP)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of The ODP Co. (NASDAQ:ODP) by 87.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,142 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in ODP were worth $743,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladius Capital Management LP raised its holdings in ODP by 94.6% during the third quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 722 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ODP during the third quarter worth about $34,000. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in ODP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in ODP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $207,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in ODP by 129.7% during the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 6,187 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 3,493 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ODP shares. TheStreet downgraded shares of ODP from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of ODP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.00.

ODP Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of ODP opened at $51.79 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.62. The ODP Co. has a twelve month low of $39.36 and a twelve month high of $58.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.45.

ODP (NASDAQ:ODP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The specialty retailer reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. ODP had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 1.77%. ODP’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The ODP Co. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

ODP declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 48.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Diego Anthony Scaglione sold 25,000 shares of ODP stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $1,375,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 96,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,285,720. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

ODP Profile

The ODP Corporation provides business services and supplies, products, and digital workplace technology solutions for small, medium, and enterprise businesses in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company operates through four divisions: ODP Business Solutions, Office Depot, Veyer, and Varis.