Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 8,401 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,208 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 8,401 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in HP were worth $2,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in HP by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 401,809 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $12,090,000 after purchasing an additional 4,102 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of HP by 27.5% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 106,316 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,213,000 after buying an additional 22,909 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in HP by 85.9% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 174,585 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,275,000 after buying an additional 80,670 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in HP by 1.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,819,100 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $85,193,000 after buying an additional 37,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP bought a new position in HP in the 4th quarter worth about $981,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on HPQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.60.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HP Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE HPQ opened at $36.18 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.43. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $39.52. The firm has a market cap of $35.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). The company 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 company’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.2756 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. HP’s payout ratio is 37.16%.

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.