BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires 618,427 Shares of XP Inc. $XP

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in XP Inc. (NASDAQ:XP) by 122.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,123,191 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 618,427 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in XP were worth $18,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 104,395 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of XP by 11.9% in 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 last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of XP by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 539,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,831,000 after buying an additional 56,090 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its stake in shares of XP by 119.2% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 19,900,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,764,000 after buying an additional 10,820,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of XP in the fourth quarter worth $9,990,000. 59.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of XP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of XP from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of XP from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Three 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

XP Price Performance

NASDAQ:XP opened at $15.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.48, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.11. XP Inc. has a one year low of $15.24 and a one year high of $23.13. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $18.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 6.66 and a quick ratio of 6.66.

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 dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a yield of 115.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. This is an increase from XP’s previous annual dividend of $0.18. XP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

XP announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 19th that allows the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About XP

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.