Brokerages Set HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Target Price at $33.11

Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.11.

HPQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, HSBC raised HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th.

HP Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of HPQ opened at $28.13 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.28 and its 200 day moving average is $28.83. HP has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $33.90. The stock has a market cap of $27.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $13.19 billion during 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 business’s revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that HP will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued 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 dividend yield of 3.92%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 32.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at $1,807,082.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the firm’s 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in HP by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,509,674 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,019,999,000 after purchasing an additional 12,883,347 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,172,444 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $306,089,000 after buying an additional 40,884 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of HP by 4,180.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,516,510 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $286,352,000 after acquiring an additional 9,294,209 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in HP by 13.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,220,098 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $211,257,000 after acquiring an additional 995,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter valued at $187,264,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.