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

Xerox Holdings Co. (NASDAQ:XRX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 1,689 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,369% compared to the typical daily volume of 115 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xerox

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in XRX. S Harris Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xerox in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Aristides Capital LLC bought a new stake in Xerox in the 4th quarter valued at $181,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Xerox by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 450,416 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,067,000 after buying an additional 50,550 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Xerox by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 652,289 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 60,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Xerox in the fourth quarter valued at $559,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.36% of the company’s stock.

Xerox Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XRX opened at $1.88 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.12. Xerox has a 52 week low of $1.65 and a 52 week high of $6.81. The firm has a market cap of $240.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.23 and a beta of 1.71.

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

Xerox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.3%. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio is -1.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on XRX shares. Zacks Research downgraded Xerox from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $2.50 price objective (down from $3.50) on shares of Xerox in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings began coverage on Xerox in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. They issued a “sell (d-)” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Sell” and a consensus target price of $2.50.

Xerox Company Profile

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.