XPO (NYSE:XPO) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $131.00. The stock had previously closed at $113.21, but opened at $110.43. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. XPO shares last traded at $109.79, with a volume of 258,748 shares traded.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of XPO in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of XPO in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $156.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of XPO from $148.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on XPO from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded XPO from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at XPO

In other news, COO David J. Bates purchased 1,880 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $106.16 per share, for a total transaction of $199,580.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 21,106 shares in the company, valued at $2,240,612.96. This represents a 9.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of XPO

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Argent Trust Co grew its position in shares of XPO by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 3,940 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in XPO by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 373 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC grew its holdings in XPO by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 9,843 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of XPO by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 538 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of XPO by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,626 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.73% of the company’s stock.

XPO Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $126.59 and its 200-day moving average is $129.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.81, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.21. XPO had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 30.36%. On average, research analysts expect that XPO, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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

XPO Company Profile

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.