KBC Group NV Acquires 264,823 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) by 22.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,450,885 shares of the computer maker's stock after buying an additional 264,823 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned 0.15% of HP worth $52,043,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. LVW Advisors LLC raised its stake in HP by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 23,884 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Castleview Partners LLC raised its position in shares of HP by 8.1% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 3,856 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 5.9% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,321 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $191,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 0.9% in the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 34,355 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,232,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WMG Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 4.2% during the second quarter. WMG Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,835 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HP stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.72. The stock had a trading volume of 7,227,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,753,265. The stock has a market cap of $35.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.92, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.07. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.42 and a 12 month high of $39.52. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $35.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.92.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. HP's revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HPQ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of 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. boosted their target price on HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group increased their target price on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company's stock, valued at $99.48. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.