HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.45.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on HPQ shares. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays raised their target price on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th.

HP Stock Down 4.1 %

NYSE HPQ opened at $34.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.80. HP has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $33.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued 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 business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.93%.

HP announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 89,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,253,964.40. This trade represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 358,893 shares of company stock valued at $12,363,877. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in HP in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in HP during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in HP by 115.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.