Sovran Advisors LLC Invests $993,000 in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 30,397 shares of the computer maker's stock, valued at approximately $993,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Castleview Partners LLC raised its holdings in HP by 8.1% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 3,856 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of HP by 3.2% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,635 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of HP by 0.9% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 7,734 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in HP by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,648 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company's stock.

HP Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of HPQ stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $33.69. 4,182,723 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,950,505. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $33.17 and a 200 day moving average of $34.83. HP Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $31.59 billion, a PE ratio of 11.99, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. HP's revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. HP's payout ratio is currently 41.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on HPQ shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. HSBC downgraded HP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HP has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.23.

Insider Transactions at HP

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 40,287 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total value of $1,401,987.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,250,724.80. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,670,068 over the last 90 days. Corporate 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.