XP Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:XP)

XP Inc. (NASDAQ:XP) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 75,767 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 297% compared to the typical volume of 19,087 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on XP. Citigroup boosted their price target on XP from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on XP from $25.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded XP from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on XP from $26.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded XP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, XP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.80.

XP Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of XP stock traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $31.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,270,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,653,382. The business has a fifty day moving average of $21.36 and a 200 day moving average of $18.79. XP has a 1-year low of $14.80 and a 1-year high of $32.73. The company has a quick ratio of 4.80, a current ratio of 4.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $16.81 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.01.

XP (NASDAQ:XP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 17th. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. XP had a net margin of 27.20% and a return on equity of 22.19%. The business had revenue of $943.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $935.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that XP will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at XP

In other news, Director Bruno Constantino Alexandre dos Santos sold 123,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.58, for a total transaction of $2,413,372.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,500,000 shares in the company, valued at $29,370,000. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in XP by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 23,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares in the last quarter. Gimbal Financial acquired a new position in shares of XP in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $9,109,000. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. boosted its stake in shares of XP by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. JGP Global Gestao de Recursos Ltda. now owns 679,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,272,000 after buying an additional 22,547 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of XP by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 9,962,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,165,000 after buying an additional 1,904,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One North America Inc. boosted its stake in shares of XP by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 1,843,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,696,000 after buying an additional 21,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.15% of the company’s stock.

XP Company Profile

XP Inc is a Brazilian financial services company that operates a technology-driven investment and financial products platform. Through its digital channels and network of advisors, the company offers access to products including stocks, bonds, investment funds, exchange-traded funds, insurance and retirement products. It serves individual investors, businesses, institutional clients and independent financial advisors.

The company’s principal brands and businesses include XP, Rico and Clear, which provide brokerage and investment services to different customer segments.