HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Short Interest Up 11.7% in August

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 30,490,000 shares, a growth of 11.7% from the August 15th total of 27,300,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 7,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Insider Activity at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,335,450.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HPQ. Sawyer & Company Inc boosted its holdings in shares of HP by 900.0% in the 1st quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in HP by 377.9% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in HP during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in HP during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP in the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on HPQ shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. 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. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.55.

HP Stock Up 0.4 %

HPQ stock opened at $34.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.07. HP has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $39.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.95.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer maker to repurchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.