StockNews.com Upgrades HP (NYSE:HPQ) to “Buy”

HP (NYSE:HPQ) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

HPQ has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Hsbc Global Res lowered HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.14.

HP Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE HPQ opened at $27.90 on Thursday. HP has a 12 month low of $27.43 and a 12 month high of $39.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $31.48 and a 200-day moving average of $33.98. The company has a market cap of $26.30 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.35 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This trade represents a 99.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $453,734.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,191 shares of company stock worth $1,425,051. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi raised its stake in shares of HP by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,561,399 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $217,319,000 after purchasing an additional 899,349 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of HP by 16.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after buying an additional 160,268 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC lifted its stake in HP by 169.3% in the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 34,682 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 21,805 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of HP by 47.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 146,608 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $5,259,000 after buying an additional 47,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 35.0% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 62,523 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 16,207 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.