HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Shares Acquired by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 62,523 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,207 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $2,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LVW Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of HP by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 23,884 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $857,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. Castleview Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 3,856 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in HP by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,321 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in HP by 3.2% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,635 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Investments Inc. boosted its position in HP by 0.9% during the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 34,355 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of HP stock opened at $34.20 on Tuesday. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $36.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.82. The firm has a market cap of $32.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 40.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total value of $2,560,077.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at $1,933,898.67. This represents a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 262,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,312,568 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on HPQ shares. Barclays raised their price target on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. 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 research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, HSBC downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, November 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.45.

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.