HP (NYSE:HPQ) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HPQ. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.14.

HP Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $29.94 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.22 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP has a twelve month low of $27.43 and a twelve month high of $39.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.61.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. The business had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.35 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total value of $2,560,077.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,898.67. This trade represents a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 125,643 shares of company stock worth $4,319,565 in the last 90 days. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in HP during the third quarter worth $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in HP in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in HP in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.