HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.77.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HPQ shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % 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. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HP in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its position in HP by 115.1% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HPQ opened at $36.79 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $36.62 and a 200-day moving average of $35.70. HP has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $35.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Analysts expect that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 reacquire up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 39.15%.

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.