Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 362,241 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 36.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,369,511 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 362,241 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.15% of HP worth $44,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. TIAA Trust National Association increased its stake in shares of HP by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 16,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in HP by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 11,467 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC raised its stake in HP by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 8,650 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,648 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its stake in shares of HP by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 12,265 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $453,734.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This represents a 99.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Cowen cut their price target on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.14.

HP Stock Down 5.0 %

HPQ stock opened at $22.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.72. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.96 and a 12-month high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. Research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.13%. HP’s payout ratio is presently 41.37%.

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.