Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.58 Million Investment in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 52,600 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,583,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of HP by 84.6% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 866 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of HP by 116.7% during the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,051 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HPQ. Barclays upped their price objective on HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, HSBC upgraded HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.11.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total value of $1,199,278.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at $1,642,381.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $27.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.28 billion, a PE ratio of 8.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $33.90.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81. The business had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.56 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 181.02% and a net margin of 6.45%. The company’s revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.2756 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.16%.

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.