Norges Bank Takes Position in XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,439,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,808,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of XPO by 44.5% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 5,725 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 1,764 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in XPO by 25.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 27,648 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,972,000 after acquiring an additional 5,680 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new position in XPO in the 3rd quarter worth about $232,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of XPO by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 25,534 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,745,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aureus Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of XPO during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,075,000. 97.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO David J. Bates purchased 1,880 shares of XPO stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,240,612.96. This represents a 9.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XPO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of XPO from $146.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of XPO from $165.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of XPO from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Benchmark raised their price target on XPO from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on XPO from $148.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $155.37.

XPO Stock Performance

XPO stock opened at $107.36 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market cap of $12.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 2.13. XPO, Inc. has a 1-year low of $97.03 and a 1-year high of $161.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $125.98 and a 200-day moving average of $129.96.

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

XPO declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 27th that permits the company to buyback $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to buy up to 5.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are 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.