XPO (NYSE:XPO) Given “Buy” Rating at Benchmark

Benchmark reiterated their buy rating on shares of XPO (NYSE:XPO) in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $140.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on XPO. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of XPO from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded XPO from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $115.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, May 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on XPO from $136.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on XPO from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of XPO from $135.00 to $134.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $122.68.

XPO Price Performance

Shares of XPO traded down $4.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $110.93. The stock had a trading volume of 3,225,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,761,305. The company has a market capitalization of $12.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. XPO has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $130.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $107.77 and its 200 day moving average is $111.37.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The transportation company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. XPO had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 4.48%. XPO’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that XPO will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at XPO

In other XPO news, Director Allison Landry sold 1,875 shares of XPO stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.52, for a total transaction of $195,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,965 shares in the company, valued at $727,981.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Allison Landry sold 1,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.52, for a total value of $195,975.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,965 shares in the company, valued at $727,981.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Mfn Partners, Lp sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.98, for a total value of $141,225,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,425,369 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,838,189.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XPO

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of XPO. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of XPO by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,290,937 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $813,824,000 after acquiring an additional 3,094,390 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in XPO in the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,592,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in XPO by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,234,691 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $272,699,000 after purchasing an additional 560,079 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in XPO by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,349,181 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $380,945,000 after buying an additional 503,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of XPO by 44.0% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,515,529 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $132,745,000 after buying an additional 463,267 shares during the period. 97.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.