SouthState Corp Purchases New Shares in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $105,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in HP during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter worth $34,000. Sawyer & Company Inc raised its stake in shares of HP by 900.0% in the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 377.9% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter worth $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HPQ. UBS Group boosted their price target on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup boosted their price target on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.55.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $33.82 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.65. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $39.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.09 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.2756 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.16%.

HP declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.