You need to use the -n1c option xargsto transfer one IP at a time when it pingdoes not support multiple IP addresses:
$ cat ips | xargs -n1 ping -c 2
Demo:
$ cat ips
127.0.0.1
google.com
bbc.co.uk
$ cat ips | xargs echo ping -c 2
ping -c 2 127.0.0.1 google.com bbc.co.uk
$ cat ips | xargs -n1 echo ping -c 2
ping -c 2 127.0.0.1
ping -c 2 google.com
ping -c 2 bbc.co.uk
$ xargs -n1 echo ping -c 2 < ips
ping -c 2 127.0.0.1
ping -c 2 google.com
ping -c 2 bbc.co.uk
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