HP (HPQ) Projected to Post Earnings on Thursday

HP (NYSE:HPQ) is projected to issue its quarterly earnings data after the market closes on Thursday, February 27th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.74 per share and revenue of $13.35 billion for the quarter. Parties that are interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect HP to post $4 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HP stock opened at $34.08 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.88. HP has a 12 month low of $27.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HPQ. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, HP has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.68.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total value of $357,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total transaction of $2,560,077.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,898.67. This trade represents a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

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.