XPO (NYSE:XPO) Upgraded to “Buy” at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of XPO (NYSE:XPO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $120.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $115.00.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on XPO from $100.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley cut XPO from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on XPO from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on XPO from $98.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on XPO from $136.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $116.60.

XPO Price Performance

Shares of XPO stock traded up $2.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,269,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,860,429. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.49. XPO has a 1-year low of $46.65 and a 1-year high of $130.51. The company has a market capitalization of $12.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 2.17.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.13. XPO had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 30.77%. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. XPO’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that XPO will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Mfn Partners, Lp sold 1,250,000 shares of XPO stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.98, for a total value of $141,225,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,425,369 shares in the company, valued at $1,290,838,189.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On XPO

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of XPO by 49.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,290,937 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $813,824,000 after purchasing an additional 3,094,390 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in XPO by 12,894.9% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,304,037 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $97,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,002 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of XPO during the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,592,000. Eminence Capital LP boosted its position in shares of XPO by 137.4% during the 3rd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 1,191,311 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $88,943,000 after acquiring an additional 689,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of XPO by 33.4% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,234,691 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $272,699,000 after acquiring an additional 560,079 shares during the last quarter. 97.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.