HP (NYSE:HPQ) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

HP (NYSE:HPQ) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. HSBC cut shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.14.

HP Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:HPQ opened at $28.91 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $27.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP has a twelve month low of $27.43 and a twelve month high of $39.80. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.37.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.35 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. As a group, analysts expect that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its position in HP by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 9,636 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association grew its holdings in shares of HP by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 16,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 11,467 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Auxano Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 8,650 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in 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.