HP (NYSE:HPQ) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on HPQ. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, HSBC cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.14.

HP Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $27.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $26.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP has a 1 year low of $27.43 and a 1 year high of $39.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.98.

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

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.37%.

Insider Activity at HP

In other news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,814.81. This represents a 99.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $453,734.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,191 shares of company stock valued at $1,425,051. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of HP by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,561,399 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $217,319,000 after acquiring an additional 899,349 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in HP by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after purchasing an additional 160,268 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC increased its stake in HP by 169.3% during the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 34,682 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 21,805 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in HP by 47.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 146,608 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $5,259,000 after buying an additional 47,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of HP by 35.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 62,523 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after buying an additional 16,207 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.