Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Raises Stock Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 412,504 shares of the computer maker's stock after buying an additional 23,466 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in HP were worth $14,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HPQ. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its position in HP by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,938 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 8,494 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of HP in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 7.5% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 141,157 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $5,064,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 41.5% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 50,109 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,797,000 after purchasing an additional 14,703 shares during the period. Finally, Centiva Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of HP during the third quarter worth $229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of HP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $37.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.77.

HP Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:HPQ traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $36.20. 6,583,550 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,358,639. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.77. The stock has a market cap of $34.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from HP's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. HP's payout ratio is 39.15%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company's stock.

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.