United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 27,345 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 3,719 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. TIAA Trust National Association raised its stake in HP by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 16,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its stake in HP by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 11,467 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 8,650 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of HP by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,648 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its holdings in shares of HP by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 12,265 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on HPQ. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Insider Activity at HP

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $453,734.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,814.81. This trade represents a 99.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HP Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $23.77 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $28.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.72. The company has a market cap of $22.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.46, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.21 and a 52 week high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. Analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.87%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.37%.

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.