HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 22,310,000 shares, a decline of 5.3% from the May 31st total of 23,570,000 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 7,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $34.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.63. The company has a market cap of $34.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.09. HP has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $39.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The computer maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $12.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.61 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 230.39% and a net margin of 5.60%. The company’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Research analysts predict that HP will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2756 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total transaction of $6,251,977.07. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in HP by 84.6% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 866 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in HP in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Sawyer & Company Inc raised its position in HP by 900.0% in the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its position in HP by 116.7% in the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,051 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in HP by 377.9% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HPQ. Bank of America boosted their target price on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.64.

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.