Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Sells 57,567 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 269,088 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 57,567 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in HP were worth $9,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HP in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in HP by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Trading Down 11.4 %

NYSE:HPQ opened at $34.66 on Friday. HP Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.52. The stock has a market cap of $33.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s payout ratio is currently 39.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.32.

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.