Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for HP (NYSE:HPQ) Stock

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its price target raised by stock analysts at Barclays from $32.00 to $35.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the computer maker’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 0.98% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on HPQ. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.32.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE HPQ opened at $34.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07. HP has a 52 week low of $27.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $36.56 and a 200-day moving average of $35.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LVW Advisors LLC grew its position in HP by 1.2% in the third quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 23,884 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 3,856 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of HP by 5.9% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,321 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in HP by 3.2% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,635 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Investments Inc. boosted its position in HP by 0.9% during the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 34,355 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.