Grimes & Company Inc. Acquires New Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Grimes & Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,711 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HPQ. Greystone Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of HP by 2.0% during the third quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 186,457 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $6,688,000 after acquiring an additional 3,659 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its stake in HP by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 46,129 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in HP by 2,201.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 107,820 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $38,680,000 after purchasing an additional 103,136 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co. raised its position in HP by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 61,582 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $2,209,000 after purchasing an additional 6,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of HP by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 31,660 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of HP stock opened at $36.88 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $35.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.04. HP Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.67 and a 1 year high of $39.52. The company has a market capitalization of $35.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on HPQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.55.

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.