HP (NYSE:HPQ) Stock Price Down 7.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) shares were down 7.4% on Friday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $38.00. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the stock. HP traded as low as $29.98 and last traded at $30.66. Approximately 1,788,191 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 5,935,025 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.13.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on HPQ. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, HSBC downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,253,964.40. This trade represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 40,287 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total value of $1,401,987.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,250,724.80. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 262,737 shares of company stock worth $9,316,641. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of HP by 16.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $41,391,000 after purchasing an additional 160,268 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 169.3% during the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 34,682 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,132,000 after buying an additional 21,805 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in HP by 47.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 146,608 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,259,000 after purchasing an additional 47,230 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in HP by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 62,523 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after buying an additional 16,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of HP by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 446,848 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $14,581,000 after acquiring an additional 18,557 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $28.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.86.

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

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.