HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 189,247 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 8,059 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $6,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in HP in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in HP by 115.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in HP in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new position in HP in the second quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $99.48. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC downgraded shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.77.

HP Stock Performance

HPQ stock opened at $36.46 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.80. HP Inc. has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $35.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. HP’s payout ratio is presently 39.15%.

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.