HP (NYSE:HPQ) Price Target Cut to $36.50 by Analysts at Citigroup

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its price objective decreased by Citigroup from $37.00 to $36.50 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the computer maker’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.32.

HP Stock Down 11.4 %

HPQ stock opened at $34.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.56 and a 200 day moving average of $35.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07. HP has a 52 week low of $27.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. HP’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HPQ. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HP by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,007,270 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $37,712,000 after acquiring an additional 202,613 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of HP by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 146,608 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,259,000 after acquiring an additional 47,230 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,042,000. Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,745,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $324,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.