Brokerages Set HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) PT at $36.23

Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the twelve ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.23.

Several research firms have weighed in on HPQ. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. HSBC lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,253,964.40. The trade was a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of HP by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after acquiring an additional 160,268 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC raised its position in shares of HP by 169.3% in the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 34,682 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 21,805 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of HP by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 146,608 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,259,000 after acquiring an additional 47,230 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in HP by 35.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 62,523 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after purchasing an additional 16,207 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in HP by 25.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,007,270 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $37,712,000 after purchasing an additional 202,613 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $32.73 on Thursday. HP has a 52 week low of $27.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $30.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.27.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. HP’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.28%.

HP Company 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.