Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 5,298 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 83,407 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,298 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $2,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in HP by 84.6% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 866 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp bought a new stake in HP in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of HP by 116.7% during the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,051 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HP Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $27.81 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.13, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $29.34 and its 200 day moving average is $28.82. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.22 and a 12 month high of $33.90.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81. HP had a net margin of 6.45% and a negative return on equity of 181.02%. The company had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. HP’s revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.2756 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total value of $2,010,670.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HP news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total value of $2,010,670.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 116,723 shares of company stock worth $3,479,287 in the last three months. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.