HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Receives $36.77 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.45.

A number of research firms have weighed in on HPQ. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. HSBC cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th.

HP Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $34.94 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.04. HP has a 1-year low of $27.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.2894 dividend. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s payout ratio is 40.93%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,219,680.32. This trade represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 358,893 shares of company stock valued at $12,363,877. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter worth $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter worth $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in shares of HP by 115.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.