Brokerages Set HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) PT at $36.14

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.14.

HPQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday.

HP Stock Performance

HP stock opened at $22.84 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $21.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP has a one year low of $21.21 and a one year high of $39.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.22.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.07%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s payout ratio is 41.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $453,734.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total transaction of $613,817.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This represents a 99.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in HP during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its holdings in HP by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.