Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 101,792 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 599,946 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 101,792 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $19,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in HP during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $28.71 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.64 and its 200 day moving average is $34.06. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.43 and a 12-month high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion during 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HPQ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total value of $357,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.