Farmers Trust Co. Reduces Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Farmers Trust Co. cut its position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,487 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 968 shares during the quarter. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in HP were worth $735,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HPQ. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in HP by 290.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,214 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 3,879 shares during the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of HP by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 12,313 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of HP by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 271,850 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $8,180,000 after purchasing an additional 32,622 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in HP by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,024,797 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $60,926,000 after buying an additional 178,851 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $35.60 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.34. The company has a market cap of $34.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.59 and a 12-month high of $39.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HPQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup cut shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.55.

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.