Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Acquires 1,687 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 25,446 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,687 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $830,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in HP in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in HP in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in HP in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in HP in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in HP in the third quarter worth about $44,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This represents a 60.56 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HP Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of HPQ opened at $29.60 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $32.88 and its 200 day moving average is $34.72. The company has a market capitalization of $27.91 billion, a PE ratio of 10.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. Equities research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s payout ratio is 41.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. HSBC cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup dropped their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.14.

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.