HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.45.

HPQ has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America downgraded HP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. 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 Global Res downgraded shares of HP from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th.

HP Price Performance

HPQ traded down $0.15 on Friday, reaching $33.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,423,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,821,674. HP has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The business's 50 day moving average is $35.87 and its 200 day moving average is $35.64. The stock has a market cap of $31.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business 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 forecast that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 positive change from HP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. HP's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.93%.

Insider Activity at HP

In related news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total transaction of $2,560,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,933,898.67. The trade was a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 262,035 shares of company stock worth $9,312,568 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of HP by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $41,391,000 after purchasing an additional 160,268 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in HP by 12.4% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 214,072 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $7,679,000 after buying an additional 23,693 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $37,712,000 after buying an additional 202,613 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of HP by 47.5% in the third 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. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,042,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company's stock.

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.