HP (NYSE:HPQ) Rating Lowered to Hold at Hsbc Global Res

HP (NYSE:HPQ) was downgraded by Hsbc Global Res from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

HPQ has been the topic of several other reports. HSBC downgraded shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, HP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.77.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $35.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.57 and a 200 day moving average of $35.56. HP has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chris Bulman Inc purchased a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter valued at approximately $88,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in HP by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after purchasing an additional 160,268 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in HP in the 2nd quarter valued at $621,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in HP by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 109,493 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,309,000 after purchasing an additional 66,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of HP by 24.1% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,162,772 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $77,579,000 after buying an additional 419,774 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.