HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Shares Bought by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) by 24.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,275 shares of the computer maker's stock after acquiring an additional 26,316 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in HP were worth $4,349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in HP in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in HP in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in HP during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814.81. The trade was a 99.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was 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.

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HP Stock Performance

Shares of HPQ traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.84. 6,180,721 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,651,022. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.59 and a fifty-two week high of $39.80. The stock's 50-day moving average is $30.58 and its 200-day moving average is $33.62. The company has a market cap of $21.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.07%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on HPQ. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. StockNews.com raised HP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HP presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.14.

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.