Hilltop Holdings Inc. Buys 14,703 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) by 41.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,109 shares of the computer maker's stock after purchasing an additional 14,703 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.'s holdings in HP were worth $1,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in HP during the second quarter worth $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in HP by 115.1% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in HP during the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company's stock.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE HPQ traded down $0.43 on Wednesday, reaching $36.36. 8,735,723 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,866,410. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.70. The company has a market cap of $35.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04.

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

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This is a boost from HP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.15%.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on HPQ. Citigroup dropped their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. HSBC cut HP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $99.48. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.