Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 362,241 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 36.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,369,511 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 362,241 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $44,687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in HP during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This trade represents a 99.22 % 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, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was 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. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.14.

HP Price Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $22.58 on Friday. HP Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.96 and a 1 year high of $39.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.72. The company has a market cap of $21.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. The business had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. On average, analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.37%.

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.