Citigroup Lowers HP (NYSE:HPQ) to Neutral

Citigroup downgraded shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $37.00 price target on the computer maker's stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on HPQ. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of HP from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $37.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $35.55.

HP Trading Down 3.1 %

HPQ stock traded down $1.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $34.75. The company had a trading volume of 10,360,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,033,796. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.28. HP has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $39.52. The company has a market capitalization of $34.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $13.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at HP

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $99.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WMG Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 4.2% in 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. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of HP by 2.9% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,296 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in shares of HP by 11.6% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 3,568 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 1.2% in the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 34,228 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 9.6% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,506 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.