Argyle Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,675 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the quarter. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $1,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HP by 136.8% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,769 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in HP by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 188,350 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,692,000 after purchasing an additional 4,815 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in HP by 49.4% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,279 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in shares of HP by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 304,262 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $9,195,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the 1st quarter worth approximately $269,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE HPQ traded down $0.21 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,255,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,789,229. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.90 and a twelve month high of $39.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.07.

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

HP announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America cut shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About HP

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.