Ascent Group LLC Sells 1,351 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Ascent Group LLC lessened its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,977 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 1,351 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $1,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sawyer & Company Inc boosted its holdings in HP by 900.0% in 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 last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 839 shares during the period. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in HP during the second quarter worth $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in HP in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC bought a new stake in HP during the second quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HPQ. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays lowered their target price on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.55.

HP Price Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $35.41 on Monday. HP Inc. has a one year low of $25.22 and a one year high of $39.52. The company has a market cap of $34.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.96, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $34.97 and a 200-day moving average of $33.24.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

About HP

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.