HP (NYSE:HPQ) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of HP from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of HP from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of HP from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays upped their price target on HP from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded HP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $23.33.

HP Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $24.25 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.19. HP has a fifty-two week low of $17.56 and a fifty-two week high of $29.65.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The computer maker reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.14. HP had a net margin of 4.45% and a negative return on equity of 581.36%. The firm had revenue of $14.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. HP’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. HP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.610-0.710 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HP will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.28%.

Insider Activity at HP

In other news, insider David P. Mcquarrie sold 10,524 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $259,732.32. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 92,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,275,496. This trade represents a 10.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Garner Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Union Savings Bank acquired a new position in HP during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

About HP

HP Inc is an American multinational information technology company that designs, manufactures and sells personal computing devices, printers and related supplies and services. Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial notebooks and desktops, workstations, displays and accessories, as well as an extensive line of printing hardware that includes home, office and production printers. HP also provides consumables such as ink and toner, managed print services, device deployment and lifecycle support, and software for device and print management.

Founded from the original Hewlett‑Packard Company, HP Inc became a separately traded public company in 2015 following a corporate split that created Hewlett Packard Enterprise to focus on enterprise hardware and services.