Investors Buy High Volume of HP Call Options (NYSE:HPQ)

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 19,642 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 55% compared to the typical daily volume of 12,641 call options.

Insider Activity at HP

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $453,734.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of HP in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in HP in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $27.91 on Thursday. HP has a 12 month low of $25.79 and a 12 month high of $39.80. The firm has a market cap of $26.31 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.86.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.35 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. HP’s payout ratio is currently 41.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on HPQ. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.14.

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.