Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for HP (NYSE:HPQ) Stock Price

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $32.00 to $35.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the computer maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Citigroup downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.77.

HP Trading Up 2.2 %

HPQ stock opened at $35.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.59. HP has a 12 month low of $27.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s payout ratio is currently 40.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in HP during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 115.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.