Stephens Inc. AR Purchases 210,261 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 1,314.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 226,255 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 210,261 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in HP were worth $7,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in HP by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 68,057 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $2,221,000 after buying an additional 14,778 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 355,040 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $11,585,000 after acquiring an additional 217,910 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in HP by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,177 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in HP in the 4th quarter worth $250,000. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in HP by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 617,584 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $20,152,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $32.26 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $30.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.49 and a 200-day moving average of $34.94.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. HP’s payout ratio is 40.93%.

Insider Transactions at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. This trade represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total transaction of $4,997,076.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 89,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This trade represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,670,068. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HPQ. Citigroup decreased their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.23.

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.