Short Interest in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Rises By 11.7%

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 30,490,000 shares, an increase of 11.7% from the August 15th total of 27,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 directly 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 at the SEC website. In related news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the sale, 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 at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sawyer & Company Inc increased its position in HP by 900.0% during the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in HP by 377.9% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the period. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in HP during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in HP during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter valued at $43,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays decreased their target price on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.55.

HP Price Performance

NYSE:HPQ traded up $0.44 on Monday, hitting $33.76. 7,769,004 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,868,070. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.87. HP has a 52 week low of $25.22 and a 52 week high of $39.52. The company has a market cap of $33.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.37 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.