Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Buys 7,019 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC increased its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 50.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,990 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,019 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in HP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in HP during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in HP in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HP in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Stock Up 0.4 %

HPQ stock opened at $27.91 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.17 and a 200 day moving average of $33.86. The firm has a market cap of $26.31 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.10 and a twelve month high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. On average, research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s payout ratio is 41.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on HPQ. Barclays raised their target price on HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.14.

Insider Activity at HP

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $453,734.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,814.81. The trade was a 99.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About HP

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.