HP (NYSE:HPQ) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Hits Expectations

HP (NYSE:HPQ) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93, Briefing.com reports. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $39.08 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.56 and its 200-day moving average is $35.53. HP has a 52-week low of $27.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $37.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07.

HP declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on HPQ. Bank of America lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.45.

Insider Transactions at HP

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

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.