Xerox (NYSE:XRX) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xerox (NYSE:XRX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Xerox from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday, January 26th.

Xerox Price Performance

Xerox stock opened at $16.18 on Tuesday. Xerox has a 1 year low of $12.06 and a 1 year high of $19.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $17.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.29. The company has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -80.90 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The information technology services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.09). Xerox had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 0.01%. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. Xerox’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Xerox will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Xerox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Xerox’s dividend payout ratio is currently -500.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xerox

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XRX. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Xerox by 15.1% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,540,136 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $239,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,262 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Xerox by 10.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,791,263 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464,851 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Xerox in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,470,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Xerox by 81.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,889,370 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,378,000 after buying an additional 847,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Xerox in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,832,000. Institutional investors own 85.36% of the company’s stock.

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.