Forsta AP Fonden Increases Stock Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Forsta AP Fonden raised its holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) by 37.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 387,400 shares of the computer maker's stock after acquiring an additional 105,200 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in HP were worth $12,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of HP by 16.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $41,391,000 after purchasing an additional 160,268 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in HP by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 146,608 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $5,259,000 after acquiring an additional 47,230 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC increased its position in shares of HP by 169.3% during the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 34,682 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 21,805 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 35.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 62,523 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 16,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HP by 25.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,007,270 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $37,712,000 after purchasing an additional 202,613 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at $3,253,964.40. The trade was a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % 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. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HP Price Performance

HP stock traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $32.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 671,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,945,121. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.74, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.05. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $34.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.20. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. HP's revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a $0.2894 dividend. This is a positive change from HP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HPQ shares. Barclays lifted their target price on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of HP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.