HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Stake Lessened by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 123,502 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 7,459 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in HP were worth $3,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in HP by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,509,674 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $3,019,999,000 after purchasing an additional 12,883,347 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of HP by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,172,444 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $306,089,000 after acquiring an additional 40,884 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of HP by 4,180.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,516,510 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $286,352,000 after acquiring an additional 9,294,209 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of HP by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,220,098 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $211,257,000 after acquiring an additional 995,132 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in HP during the 4th quarter valued at about $187,264,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

HP Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of HP stock traded up $0.33 on Wednesday, reaching $33.02. 7,714,808 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,631,614. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.22 and a fifty-two week high of $33.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.29.

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

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.2756 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.16%.

Insider Activity

In other HP news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total transaction of $1,199,278.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of HP 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,807,082.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 116,723 shares of company stock worth $3,479,287 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

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.