HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Short Interest Up 12.3% in May

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 23,570,000 shares, an increase of 12.3% from the May 15th total of 20,990,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 7,910,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

HP Stock Down 2.6 %

HPQ stock traded down $0.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $35.51. The company had a trading volume of 8,582,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,355,336. The stock has a market cap of $34.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.15. HP has a 12 month low of $25.22 and a 12 month high of $39.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The computer maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $12.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.61 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 230.39% and a net margin of 5.60%. The company's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. Equities analysts expect that HP will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2756 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total value of $2,010,670.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,216 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,807,082.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HP

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of HP by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 27,858 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $716,000 after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in HP by 29.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 229,454 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $5,889,000 after acquiring an additional 51,823 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in HP by 7.1% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,032 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,732 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in HP by 10.2% in the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 179,733 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $4,619,000 after acquiring an additional 16,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,010,000. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on HP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of HP from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HP currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.64.

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.

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