Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 993,656 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 24,210 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $34,798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in HP by 293.3% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 708,889 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $24,825,000 after buying an additional 528,627 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in HP by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 25,776 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $903,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in HP by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,496 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,979,000 after acquiring an additional 2,143 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in HP by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its holdings in HP by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 87,042 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total transaction of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on HPQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.60.

HP Stock Up 2.0 %

HP stock opened at $36.18 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.09. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $39.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.37 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.60% and a negative return on equity of 230.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2756 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. HP’s payout ratio is 37.16%.

HP 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.