Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Decreases Stock Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lowered its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,160 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 389 shares during the quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in HP were worth $527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Greystone Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 191,805 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $6,259,000 after acquiring an additional 5,348 shares during the period. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in HP in the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in HP by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 2,835 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of HP by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,814 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,923 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of HP by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 279,165 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $9,109,000 after purchasing an additional 56,874 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This trade represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 273,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,670,068 in the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HPQ opened at $34.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.83.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. HSBC lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.68.

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.