KBC Group NV Raises Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,450,885 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 264,823 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in HP were worth $52,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in HP in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in HP during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of HP stock opened at $36.50 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.91. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $39.52. The firm has a market cap of $35.17 billion, a PE ratio of 12.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.37 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

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.