HP (NYSE:HPQ) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $26.00. The stock had previously closed at $25.01, but opened at $26.70. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. HP shares last traded at $27.62, with a volume of 10,333,641 shares traded.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of HP in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Evercore set a $22.00 target price on shares of HP in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of HP from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research raised shares of HP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of HP from $21.00 to $16.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $23.08.

Key Headlines Impacting HP

Here are the key news stories impacting HP this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HP beat second-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, which signals resilient demand and better-than-expected execution. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: AI PC sales and the Windows 11 upgrade cycle are supporting growth in the Personal Systems segment, a key near-term driver for HP. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several brokerages raised price targets, but ratings remained cautious, suggesting analysts see limited upside despite the earnings beat. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Management’s earnings call emphasized balancing AI growth with cost discipline, indicating HP is still managing margin pressure rather than seeing a clear reacceleration. Yahoo Finance article
• Negative Sentiment: HP cut its full-year profit guidance to $2.15 to $2.45 per share from a prior $2.47 to $2.77, citing memory cost pressure and softer unit demand, which is the main reason the stock is lower. WSJ article
• Negative Sentiment: Rising memory costs and slowing demand raise concerns that near-term margins could compress even as revenue grows. Proactive Investors article

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. DNB Asset Management AS raised its stake in HP by 242.2% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 10,594,630 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $236,048,000 after buying an additional 7,498,202 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth about $149,309,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of HP by 186.1% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,378,723 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $228,153,000 after acquiring an additional 5,449,691 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of HP by 143.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,039,803 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $244,527,000 after acquiring an additional 5,325,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of HP by 626.6% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,948,700 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $110,257,000 after acquiring an additional 4,267,600 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.10. The stock has a market cap of $25.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a PEG ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The computer maker reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.14. HP had a net margin of 4.45% and a negative return on equity of 467.21%. The company had revenue of $14.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. HP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.610-0.710 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.45%.

HP Company Profile

HP Inc is an American multinational information technology company that designs, manufactures and sells personal computing devices, printers and related supplies and services. Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial notebooks and desktops, workstations, displays and accessories, as well as an extensive line of printing hardware that includes home, office and production printers. HP also provides consumables such as ink and toner, managed print services, device deployment and lifecycle support, and software for device and print management.

Founded from the original Hewlett‑Packard Company, HP Inc became a separately traded public company in 2015 following a corporate split that created Hewlett Packard Enterprise to focus on enterprise hardware and services.