Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for XPO (NYSE:XPO) Stock

XPO (NYSE:XPO) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Barclays from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.41% from the stock’s current price.

XPO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of XPO from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of XPO from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of XPO from $147.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of XPO from $116.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of XPO from $136.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $142.05.

XPO Price Performance

XPO opened at $132.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $15.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $122.11 and a 200 day moving average of $120.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. XPO has a fifty-two week low of $85.06 and a fifty-two week high of $161.00.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. XPO had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 28.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that XPO will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

XPO declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 27th that allows the company to buyback $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of XPO by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 74,250 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,738,000 after buying an additional 27,034 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of XPO by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 237,420 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $31,138,000 after buying an additional 67,800 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of XPO by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 61,414 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,054,000 after buying an additional 18,398 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of XPO in the first quarter worth $247,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of XPO by 14.2% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 24,632 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after buying an additional 3,057 shares during the period. 97.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About XPO

XPO, Inc provides freight transportation services in the United States, rest of North America, France, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American LTL and European Transportation. The North American LTL segment provides customers with less-than-truckload (LTL) services, such as geographic density and day-definite domestic services.