MetLife Investment Management LLC Buys 21,983 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 265,214 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,983 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $9,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of HP by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,191,666 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $36,013,000 after buying an additional 15,675 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $21,286,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of HP by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 109,493 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after purchasing an additional 66,510 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 43.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 11,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in HP by 66.6% in the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,644 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $34.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.52. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s payout ratio is currently 38.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HPQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.32.

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.