HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.77.

Several equities research analysts have commented on HPQ shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Hsbc Global Res lowered HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. UBS Group upped their price target on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

Insider Transactions at HP

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,219,680.32. This trade represents a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in HP by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,871,046,000 after purchasing an additional 3,923,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in HP by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,770,491 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $885,877,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477,977 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of HP by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 22,451,096 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $786,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319,731 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HP by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,184,306 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $508,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in HP by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,710,450 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $375,079,000 after buying an additional 1,089,848 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of HPQ opened at $36.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $34.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.77. HP has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.15%.

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.