HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.55.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HPQ shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays dropped their target price on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in HP by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 134,941 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $4,060,000 after acquiring an additional 12,378 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $187,264,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of HP by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 29,208 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of HP by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,672,097 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $50,313,000 after buying an additional 495,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in HP by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 293,388 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $8,828,000 after buying an additional 1,197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE HPQ opened at $34.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.97. HP has a twelve month low of $25.22 and a twelve month high of $39.52. The company has a market capitalization of $34.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.