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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered XP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on XP from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised XP from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.75.

XP Price Performance

Shares of XP stock opened at $15.60 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.65 and a 200 day moving average of $18.69. XP has a 12 month low of $15.52 and a 12 month high of $23.13. The firm has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.62, a PEG ratio of 0.51 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.

XP declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 19th that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

XP Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in XP by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 457,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,396,000 after purchasing an additional 104,395 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position 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 valued at $200,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,982 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in XP by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 539,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,831,000 after purchasing an additional 56,090 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its position in XP by 119.2% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 19,900,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,764,000 after purchasing an additional 10,820,050 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda purchased a new stake in XP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,990,000. 59.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.