Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,647 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 7,785 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HPQ. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in HP by 3.9% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,966,113 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $76,229,000 after buying an additional 112,427 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of HP by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 21,204 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $545,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in HP by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 62,575 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,608,000 after purchasing an additional 5,064 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in HP by 87.9% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 765,799 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $22,960,000 after purchasing an additional 358,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new stake in HP during the fourth quarter worth $1,758,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of HPQ opened at $27.81 on Monday. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $33.90. The company has a market capitalization of $27.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.82.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.81. The firm had revenue of $13.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.56 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 181.02% and a net margin of 6.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on HPQ shares. HSBC raised 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 research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other HP news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,807,082.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, 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 worth $3,479,287 in the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HP 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.