Janus Henderson Group PLC Boosts Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 141,157 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in HP were worth $5,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chris Bulman Inc acquired a new position in shares of HP in the 2nd quarter valued at $88,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in HP by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after buying an additional 160,268 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HP in the second quarter valued at about $621,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in HP by 11.4% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 193,700 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $6,947,000 after buying an additional 19,845 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of HP by 24.1% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,162,772 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $77,579,000 after acquiring an additional 419,774 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of HP 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 358,893 shares of company stock worth $12,363,877. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Trading Down 4.1 %

HP stock opened at $34.94 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.80. The stock has a market cap of $33.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.04. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. HP’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HPQ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC lowered shares of 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 lowered HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. 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 research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.77.

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.