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

Shares of XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO) 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.

XPO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of XPO from $148.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on XPO from $170.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on XPO in a report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $156.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on XPO from $159.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Vertical Research raised XPO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $155.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at XPO

In other XPO news, COO David J. Bates acquired 1,880 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $106.16 per share, with a total value of $199,580.80. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 21,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,240,612.96. This trade represents a 9.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XPO

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of XPO by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,641,962 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,789,171,000 after buying an additional 2,125,686 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in XPO by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,034,926 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,447,231,000 after acquiring an additional 79,393 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in XPO by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,753,883 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,016,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,001 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in XPO by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,477,846 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $373,903,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of XPO by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,606,265 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $341,812,000 after purchasing an additional 91,252 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.73% of the company’s stock.

XPO Stock Down 5.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $12.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 2.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $125.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.77. 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 results on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that XPO, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

XPO announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 27th that allows the company to buyback $750.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to reacquire up to 5.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.