Insider Selling: HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) CEO Sells $7,013,373.16 in Stock

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE HPQ opened at $33.32 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.07. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $39.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.87.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The company had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HPQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America raised their target price on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target on HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in HP by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 401,809 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $12,090,000 after buying an additional 4,102 shares during the period. Chris Bulman Inc purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter worth $88,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HP by 27.5% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 106,316 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,213,000 after acquiring an additional 22,909 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of HP by 85.9% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 174,585 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,275,000 after purchasing an additional 80,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of HP by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,819,100 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $85,193,000 after purchasing an additional 37,800 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.