Essential Planning LLC. Buys Shares of 11,960 HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Essential Planning LLC. acquired a new stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 11,960 shares of the computer maker's stock, valued at approximately $430,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in HP by 8.2% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 61,848 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $2,218,000 after purchasing an additional 4,712 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,676 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in HP by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,206,009 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $79,130,000 after acquiring an additional 29,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $312,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HP Price Performance

NYSE HPQ traded up $0.52 on Friday, reaching $28.43. The company had a trading volume of 5,385,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,160,414. The firm has a market cap of $26.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.43 and a fifty-two week high of $39.80. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.42.

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HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. As a group, research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HPQ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. HSBC lowered shares of HP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HP currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.38% 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.