Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on XP (NASDAQ:XP)

XP Inc. (NASDAQ:XP) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 25,642 call options on the company. This is an increase of 471% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,494 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on XP shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of XP from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of XP from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of XP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On XP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of XP by 692.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 217,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,991,000 after buying an additional 190,115 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in XP by 174.4% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in XP by 65.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in XP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $857,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in XP by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 723,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,613,000 after acquiring an additional 48,765 shares during the period. 59.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

XP Price Performance

Shares of XP stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.42. The company had a trading volume of 3,824,269 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,138,424. XP has a 1-year low of $15.61 and a 1-year high of $23.13. The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 6.66, a quick ratio of 6.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.74.

XP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a yield of 115.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. This is a boost from XP’s previous annual dividend of $0.18. XP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

XP declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

XP Company Profile

XP Inc provides financial products and services in Brazil. It offers securities brokerage, private pension plans, commercial, and investment banking products, such as loan operations and transactions in the foreign exchange markets and deposits; product structuring and capital markets services for corporate clients and issuers of fixed income products; advisory services for mass-affluent and institutional clients; and wealth management services for high-net-worth customers and institutional clients.