Jefferies Financial Group Cuts XPO (NYSE:XPO) Price Target to $135.00

XPO (NYSE:XPO) had its price target reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $170.00 to $135.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on XPO from $176.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup cut their target price on XPO from $148.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of XPO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $147.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of XPO from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of XPO from $170.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $140.16.

XPO Stock Performance

Shares of XPO opened at $93.69 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $117.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.66. The company has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 2.05. XPO has a 12-month low of $85.06 and a 12-month high of $161.00.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.21. XPO had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 30.36%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that XPO will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

XPO announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 27th that permits the company to buyback $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to repurchase up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO David J. Bates purchased 1,880 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 trade represents a 9.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of XPO

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of XPO. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in XPO by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,641,962 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,789,171,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,686 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of XPO during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,667,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of XPO by 26.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of XPO in the 4th quarter worth approximately $188,808,000. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in XPO during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $163,938,000. Institutional investors own 97.73% of the company’s stock.

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.