HighTower Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 189,247 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 8,059 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $6,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 22.5% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,581 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 4,143 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in HP by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,285 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in HP by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 196,208 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $6,871,000 after purchasing an additional 7,858 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in HP by 241.0% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,913 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,352 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in HP by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 96,571 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,114 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Stock Performance

HPQ stock opened at $36.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $36.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.80. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were 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 $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on HPQ. HSBC downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.77.

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.