Busey Bank Takes Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Busey Bank purchased a new position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 5,840 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of HPQ. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its stake in shares of HP by 115.1% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

HP Trading Up 1.1 %

HPQ opened at $36.88 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.04. The company has a market cap of $35.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.07. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.67 and a 12-month high of $39.52.

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

HP declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to repurchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HPQ. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

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.