HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.11.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HPQ shares. StockNews.com cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, HSBC upgraded HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $269,338.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $269,338.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total value of $1,199,278.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hourglass Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of HP by 1.2% in the first quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC now owns 136,793 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $4,134,000 after buying an additional 1,563 shares during the period. Conning Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HP by 15.0% in the first quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 1,202,743 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $36,271,000 after buying an additional 156,509 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of HP by 15.8% in the first quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 18,252 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 2,491 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of HP by 7.1% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 13,060 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 862 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of HP by 1.8% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 935,070 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $28,258,000 after buying an additional 16,268 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $28.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.19, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.27 and a 200-day moving average of $28.86. HP 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 the consensus estimate of $0.81. The company had revenue of $13.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.56 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 181.02% and a net margin of 6.45%. HP’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that HP will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.2756 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. HP’s payout ratio is 32.16%.

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.