HP (NYSE:HPQ) Price Target Raised to $35.00

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the computer maker's stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays upped their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. HSBC cut HP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.68.

HP Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:HPQ traded down $0.09 during trading on Thursday, reaching $34.63. 7,213,953 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,835,043. The company's 50 day moving average is $33.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.48 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05. HP has a 52 week low of $27.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. HP's revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. HP's payout ratio is currently 41.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total value of $2,560,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,933,898.67. This trade represents a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,219,680.32. This trade represents a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company's stock.

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.