HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.14.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on HPQ shares. Barclays increased their target price on HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total transaction of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This trade represents 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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,320,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 11.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,770,491 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $885,877,000 after buying an additional 2,477,977 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of HP by 145.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,555,989 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $116,031,000 after buying an additional 2,105,104 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter valued at $65,260,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in HP during the 4th quarter worth about $63,612,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Price Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $23.42 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.13. HP has a 1-year low of $21.21 and a 1-year high of $39.80. The firm has a market cap of $22.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The business had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.35 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. HP’s payout ratio is 41.37%.

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.