Independent Advisor Alliance Grows Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,114 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,736 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in HP were worth $1,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in HP during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HPQ shares. StockNews.com lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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 lowered their price target on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.14.

HP Stock Up 1.8 %

HPQ opened at $28.43 on Friday. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.43 and a 52-week high of $39.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.42. The company has a market cap of $26.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09.

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

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. HP’s payout ratio is currently 41.37%.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total value of $357,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,002.50. This trade represents a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

HP 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.