Analysts Set HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Price Target at $36.23

Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.23.

HPQ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total transaction of $4,997,076.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This represents a 60.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in HP in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE HPQ opened at $33.34 on Thursday. HP has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.27.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 40.93%.

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.