HP (NYSE:HPQ) Stock Price Down 7.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) shares traded down 7.4% on Friday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $38.00. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the stock. HP traded as low as $29.98 and last traded at $30.66. 1,788,191 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 5,935,025 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.13.

HPQ has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HP has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total transaction of $2,560,077.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,898.67. This represents a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 262,737 shares of company stock valued at $9,316,641 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in HP by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 9,636 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its position in HP by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 16,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in HP by 3.2% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,635 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 11,467 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in HP by 0.9% during the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 34,355 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Down 7.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $28.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.15 and its 200-day moving average is $34.86.

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

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. HP’s payout ratio is 40.93%.

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.