Morgan Stanley analysts reiterated their Outperform rating on Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) Thursday, along with a $15 price target. But that seems to have been enough to lift Xerox shares to a new multiyear high before the close on Thursday, and again after the opening bell on Friday.

The reiteration was a vote of confidence in company leadership, as signaled in this comment from Morgan Stanley:

We left with greater confidence that management clearly recognizes where XRX had issues in the past and understands how they can leverage their track records of success to drive consistent results going forward.

There was little to encourage investors about a turnaround in the most recent quarterly report, released in July. Both the per-share earnings and revenue results were virtually the same as in the previous quarter, as well as in the year-ago period. And the consensus forecast for this year shows hardly any movement from 2013’s earnings and revenue numbers.

One vote of confidence did come in early August in the form an insider buy. An executive vice president purchased 40,000 shares for more than $517,000. That signaled the start of the most recent spate of new highs for the stock. The share price has climbed around 6.4% since then.

Short sellers were attracted by the enthusiasm in August as well. Short interest jumped more than 25% in the first two weeks of the month to around 15.9 million shares, or about 1.5% of the total float. That ended a three-period slide in short interest.

The share price hit $13.88 in early trading Friday. Shares have not traded at that level since 2008. The 52-week low is $9.55, and the mean price target is just $13.86.

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