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

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.77.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup lowered their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital decreased 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of HP by 12.4% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 214,072 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $7,679,000 after acquiring an additional 23,693 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of HP by 25.2% during the third 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 period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of HP by 47.5% during the third 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 period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,042,000. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,745,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of HPQ opened at $36.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $36.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.77. The company has a market capitalization of $34.89 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.04. HP has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. HP’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 buy up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.15%.

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.