HP (NYSE:HPQ) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted 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. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.14.

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HP Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of HP stock traded up $0.18 on Monday, hitting $28.51. The stock had a trading volume of 9,173,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,209,042. The stock has a market cap of $26.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The business's 50 day moving average is $32.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.56. HP has a twelve month low of $27.43 and a twelve month high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74. The business had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. As a group, equities analysts predict that HP 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. HP's payout ratio is 41.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of HP stock in a transaction on 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 owns 56,169 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,933,898.67. This represents a 56.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of HP by 8.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,871,046,000 after purchasing an additional 3,923,161 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of HP by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,350,016 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $825,398,000 after buying an additional 579,525 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of HP by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,776,697 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $482,164,000 after buying an additional 592,391 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in HP by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,844,795 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $419,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,755,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in HP by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,511,218 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $310,351,000 after purchasing an additional 643,192 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.