Wedmont Private Capital Boosts Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 9.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,332 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in HP were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chris Bulman Inc purchased a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter worth $88,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HP by 27.5% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 106,316 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,213,000 after purchasing an additional 22,909 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of HP by 85.9% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 174,585 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $5,275,000 after purchasing an additional 80,670 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of HP by 1.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,819,100 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $85,193,000 after purchasing an additional 37,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the second quarter worth $621,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 27th. 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 research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.55.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $37.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $34.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.63. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.67 and a 12 month high of $39.52. The company has a market capitalization of $36.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.07.

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

HP announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.