Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 435,236 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,368,263 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 435,236 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.15% of HP worth $44,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of HP in the 4th quarter valued at about $229,320,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,105,104 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,260,000. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its position in shares of HP by 115.2% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,837,252 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $92,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,492,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $453,734.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total transaction of $613,817.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 169 shares in the company, valued at $4,814.81. The trade was a 99.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

HP Price Performance

HPQ stock opened at $25.53 on Wednesday. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.21 and a fifty-two week high of $39.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.09, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $27.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.17.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. Research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on HPQ shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.83.

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.