ODP (NASDAQ:ODP) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ODP (NASDAQ:ODP – Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a strong-buy rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

ODP Trading Down 2.8 %

ODP stock opened at $44.71 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 1.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.25. ODP has a 52 week low of $28.85 and a 52 week high of $53.59.

ODP (NASDAQ:ODP – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The specialty retailer reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.14 billion. ODP had a return on equity of 14.92% and a net margin of 1.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that ODP will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at ODP

In other ODP news, EVP Kevin Moffitt sold 23,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.74, for a total value of $1,191,781.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,560,289.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ODP

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ODP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of ODP by 0.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 358,809 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $10,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in ODP by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 288,534 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $10,141,000 after purchasing an additional 134,519 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of ODP in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $454,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of ODP by 114.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 81,404 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,861,000 after buying an additional 43,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its position in shares of ODP by 53.4% during the third quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 14,494 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 5,048 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

About ODP

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The ODP Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of business services and supplies, products, and digital workplace technology solutions. It operates through the following divisions: ODP Business Solutions, Office Depot, Veyer, and Varis. The ODP Business Solutions division provides solutions to small, medium and enterprise level companies, including those in the public and education sectors.