Sowell Financial Services LLC Grows Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Sowell Financial Services LLC raised its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 29,962 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,586 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $978,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HPQ. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 119,194.7% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 22,666 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 22,647 shares in the last quarter. Argentarii LLC acquired a new position in HP in the fourth quarter valued at $644,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in HP during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Kendall Capital Management boosted its position in shares of HP by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 114,758 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,745,000 after buying an additional 7,898 shares during the period. Finally, United Community Bank boosted its stake in shares of HP by 674.7% in the fourth quarter. United Community Bank now owns 57,411 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,873,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 40,287 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total transaction of $1,401,987.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,250,724.80. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total value of $2,560,077.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,898.67. The trade was a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 125,643 shares of company stock worth $4,319,565. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $29.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.71 and a 200-day moving average of $34.61. The firm has a market cap of $28.22 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.43 and a 12 month high of $39.80.

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

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on HPQ. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.14.

HP 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.