Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys 848 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 130,816 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 848 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $3,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of HP by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 9,636 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in HP by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 45,729 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,492,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in HP by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 20,262 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,919 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in shares of HP by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 11,383 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $25.64 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.78. HP Inc. has a one year low of $21.21 and a one year high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.27.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The computer maker reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($0.09). HP had a net margin of 4.64% and a negative return on equity of 244.99%. The firm had revenue of $13.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HPQ. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. KGI Securities initiated coverage on shares of HP in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Barclays set a $28.00 price target on shares of HP and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on HP from $38.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.54.

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.