World Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 9,021 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of HP by 117.2% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 863,502 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,240,000 after buying an additional 465,963 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of HP by 40.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 36,025 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,262,000 after purchasing an additional 10,413 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HP by 66.8% during the second quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 35,726 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 14,311 shares during the last quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the second quarter valued at $474,000. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors acquired a new position in HP in the second quarter valued at $202,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at HP

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total transaction of $4,997,076.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 89,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,253,964.40. The trade was a 60.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total transaction of $2,560,077.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 262,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,312,568. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. HSBC downgraded shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HP currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.45.

HP Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of HP stock opened at $32.49 on Thursday. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $30.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.78.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to repurchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.93%.

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.