Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 88,822 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) by 36.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 332,956 shares of the computer maker's stock after buying an additional 88,822 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in HP were worth $10,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of HP by 16.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $41,391,000 after buying an additional 160,268 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in HP by 47.5% during 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 during the period. Oak Thistle LLC grew its stake in shares of HP by 169.3% in the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 34,682 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 21,805 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 16,207 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HP by 25.2% during 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. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. HSBC lowered shares of HP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.23.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE:HPQ traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.53. 8,455,648 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,433,404. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $34.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.35. The firm has a market cap of $30.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. HP's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This is a boost from HP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. HP's payout ratio is 40.93%.

Insider Activity at HP

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total transaction of $4,997,076.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at $3,253,964.40. This represents a 60.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 40,287 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total transaction of $1,401,987.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,250,724.80. This trade represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. 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. Insiders own 0.41% 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.