HP Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:HPQ)

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 19,642 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 55% compared to the typical volume of 12,641 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total transaction of $613,817.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 169 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,814.81. This trade represents a 99.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $453,734.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in HP by 8.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,871,046,000 after purchasing an additional 3,923,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in HP by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,350,016 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $825,398,000 after buying an additional 579,525 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of HP by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,776,697 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $482,164,000 after acquiring an additional 592,391 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of HP by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,844,795 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $419,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,755,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in HP by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,511,218 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $310,351,000 after purchasing an additional 643,192 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company's stock.

HP Trading Down 5.0 %

HPQ stock traded down $1.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.58. The stock had a trading volume of 22,862,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,609,687. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.71. The company has a market capitalization of $21.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP has a 1-year low of $21.96 and a 1-year high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.35 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. HP's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HPQ shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HP has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.14.

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.