HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Stock Holdings Increased by Ballentine Partners LLC

Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,758 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,198 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $1,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in HP during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Sawyer & Company Inc increased its stake in shares of HP by 900.0% during the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in HP by 377.9% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in HP in the second quarter worth approximately $48,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $33.82 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.71. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.22 and a 52 week high of $39.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2756 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on HPQ. UBS Group boosted their price objective on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

HP Profile

HP Inc provides products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. It operates through Personal Systems and Printing segments. The Personal Systems segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, thin clients, commercial tablets and mobility devices, retail point-of-sale systems, displays and other related accessories, software, support, and services for the commercial and consumer markets.