V Square Quantitative Management LLC Buys 3,534 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 22.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,293 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Berkshire Bank bought a new position in shares of HP during the first quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of HP during the first quarter valued at approximately $551,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of HP by 1,964.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 656,446 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $19,838,000 after acquiring an additional 624,651 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its holdings in shares of HP by 47.3% during the first quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 4,040 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 19.4% during the first quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 8,212 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at HP

In related news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total value of $1,199,278.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE HPQ traded up $0.33 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.02. The company had a trading volume of 7,714,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,631,614. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.22 and a 12-month high of $33.90. The stock has a market cap of $32.38 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50-day moving average is $29.43 and its 200 day moving average is $29.29.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81. HP had a negative return on equity of 181.02% and a net margin of 6.45%. The firm had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.2756 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upgraded HP from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $24.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. HSBC raised HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

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.