Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for HP (NYSE:HPQ) Stock

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its target price lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the computer maker’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.28% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on HPQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. HSBC lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.68.

HP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $34.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.05. HP has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $33.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.81.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold a total of 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its position in HP by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 9,636 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its position in HP by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 16,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of HP by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,635 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, Arvest Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in HP by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 34,355 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.