GFS Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

GFS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,781 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HPQ. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of HP by 8.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,871,046,000 after purchasing an additional 3,923,161 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in HP by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,770,491 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $885,877,000 after buying an additional 2,477,977 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of HP by 145.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,555,989 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $116,031,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105,104 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of HP by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,184,306 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $508,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP increased its position in HP by 2,649.5% during the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,318,599 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $47,298,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270,642 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HPQ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted 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. Citigroup lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays upped their price target on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.23.

HP Price Performance

NYSE HPQ opened at $32.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $30.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $34.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.18.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of HP 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 transaction, the insider now owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at $204,002.50. The trade was 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,670,068 in the last three months. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.