Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 160,268 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 160,268 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $41,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new position in HP in the second quarter worth about $43,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 40,287 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total value of $1,401,987.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,250,724.80. This represents a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 89,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,253,964.40. The trade was a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 262,035 shares of company stock worth $9,312,568. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on HPQ shares. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. HSBC cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.45.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $33.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $31.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04. HP Inc. has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $39.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $36.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.75.

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

HP declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.93%.

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.