Zimmer Partners LP Acquires New Position in XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO)

Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 23,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,016,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on XPO from $147.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of XPO from $165.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of XPO from $148.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Stephens set a $131.00 price objective on shares of XPO and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of XPO from $108.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.11.

XPO Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XPO opened at $124.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $106.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $127.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. XPO, Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.06 and a twelve month high of $161.00.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. XPO had a return on equity of 30.36% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that XPO, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO David J. Bates purchased 1,880 shares of XPO stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $106.16 per share, with a total value of $199,580.80. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 21,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,240,612.96. This trade represents a 9.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.