Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 138.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,532 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,982 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $828,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in HP by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,509,674 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $3,019,999,000 after acquiring an additional 12,883,347 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in HP by 114,461.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,538,630 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $310,043,000 after acquiring an additional 11,528,558 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in HP by 4,180.9% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,516,510 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $286,352,000 after acquiring an additional 9,294,209 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in HP during the 4th quarter valued at about $151,025,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in HP by 145.9% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 6,090,872 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $156,535,000 after acquiring an additional 3,613,742 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on HPQ shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total transaction of $1,199,278.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,642,381.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $269,338.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total transaction of $1,199,278.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

HPQ opened at $27.96 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.77. HP Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $33.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.42 billion, a PE ratio of 8.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.81. HP had a net margin of 6.45% and a negative return on equity of 181.02%. The business had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.2756 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.16%.

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.