XP Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:XP)

XP Inc. (NASDAQ:XP) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 23,090 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 414% compared to the typical volume of 4,493 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on XP. UBS Group lowered their price objective on XP from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded XP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of XP from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, XP currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XP

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of XP by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 457,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,396,000 after purchasing an additional 104,395 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in XP by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 12,263,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,746,000 after buying an additional 1,300,982 shares during the period. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new position in XP during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,375,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in XP by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 539,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,831,000 after purchasing an additional 56,090 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda bought a new stake in XP in the fourth quarter worth about $9,990,000. Institutional investors own 59.15% of the company’s stock.

XP Stock Performance

NASDAQ XP traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $16.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,376,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,142,997. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 6.66 and a quick ratio of 6.66. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.27. XP has a 12 month low of $14.80 and a 12 month high of $23.13. The company has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.10.

XP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 268.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This is a positive change from XP’s previous annual dividend of $0.18. XP’s payout ratio is currently 22.10%.

XP declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 19th that permits the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.