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

Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.45.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th.

HP Stock Performance

HPQ opened at $32.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $31.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04. HP has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $39.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.55.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Old Port Advisors boosted its holdings in HP by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 10,116 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HP by 16.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after purchasing an additional 160,268 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in HP by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 214,072 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $7,679,000 after purchasing an additional 23,693 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in HP by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,007,270 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $37,712,000 after buying an additional 202,613 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in HP by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 146,608 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $5,259,000 after buying an additional 47,230 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.