Flputnam Investment Management Co. Takes Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,019 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HP by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,509,674 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,019,999,000 after acquiring an additional 12,883,347 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in HP by 2.2% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,387,223 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $568,395,000 after purchasing an additional 421,075 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in HP by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,639,525 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $393,364,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686,976 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of HP by 114,461.5% in 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 buying an additional 11,528,558 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of HP by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,131,560 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $260,381,000 after buying an additional 589,775 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HPQ. Barclays increased their price objective on HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, HSBC raised HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HP currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.11.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $269,338.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $269,338.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 $1,642,381.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 116,723 shares of company stock worth $3,479,287. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Trading Down 0.3 %

HPQ stock opened at $27.62 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.77. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $33.90. The company has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a PE ratio of 8.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 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 for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.81. HP had a negative return on equity of 181.02% and a net margin of 6.45%. The company had revenue of $13.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. HP’s revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.2756 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.16%.

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.