Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for HP (NYSE:HPQ) Stock Price

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $36.50 to $25.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the computer maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on HPQ. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.09.

HP Stock Performance

HPQ opened at $24.06 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.28 and a 200-day moving average of $33.03. HP has a 52-week low of $21.21 and a 52-week high of $39.80.

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

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s payout ratio is 41.37%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of HP

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in HP in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of HP during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of HP in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.