Creative Planning Raises Stock Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 213,889 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,745 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in HP were worth $7,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of HP by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,778,246 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,649,919,000 after buying an additional 3,062,441 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of HP by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 22,451,096 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $786,237,000 after buying an additional 1,319,731 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of HP by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 12,674,646 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $383,028,000 after buying an additional 403,355 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of HP by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,710,450 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $375,079,000 after buying an additional 1,089,848 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of HP by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,172,444 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $306,089,000 after buying an additional 40,884 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HPQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group upped 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, August 29th. Citigroup cut shares of 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. Bank of America cut shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.55.

HP Stock Performance

HPQ opened at $35.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.32. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.59 and a 52-week high of $39.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $13.37 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. HP’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. Research analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.