Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for HP (NYSE:HPQ) Stock Price

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its target price decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $35.00 to $25.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an underweight rating on the computer maker’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $38.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays set a $28.00 price target on shares of HP and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of HP from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KGI Securities assumed coverage on shares of HP in a research note on Thursday. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.54.

HP Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of HP stock opened at $24.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $23.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.85, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $25.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.65. HP has a twelve month low of $21.21 and a twelve month high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The computer maker reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.80 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $13.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.09 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.65%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.40%.

Insider Transactions at HP

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of HP by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 9,636 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its position in HP by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 16,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its position in HP by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 11,467 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Auxano Advisors LLC boosted its position in HP by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 8,650 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its position in HP by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 12,265 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.