Benchmark Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for XPO (NYSE:XPO) Stock

XPO (NYSE:XPO - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by analysts at Benchmark from $130.00 to $140.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the transportation company's stock. Benchmark's price objective points to a potential upside of 8.10% from the company's previous close.

XPO has been the subject of several other reports. Susquehanna increased their price target on XPO from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on XPO from $147.00 to $142.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of XPO from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of XPO from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of XPO from $126.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, XPO presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.00.

XPO Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of XPO stock traded down $0.87 on Tuesday, hitting $129.51. 622,419 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,651,073. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $123.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.26 billion, a PE ratio of 39.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.93. XPO has a one year low of $85.06 and a one year high of $161.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

XPO (NYSE:XPO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.98 billion. XPO had a net margin of 4.87% and a return on equity of 28.27%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that XPO will post 4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Trading of XPO

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Argent Trust Co boosted its position in shares of XPO by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 3,940 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $517,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in XPO by 4.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,860 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC boosted its position in XPO by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 9,843 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,291,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in XPO by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,626 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems boosted its position in XPO by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 6,193 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $812,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.73% of the company's stock.

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.