HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Insider Kristen M. Ludgate Sells 74,356 Shares

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total transaction of $2,560,077.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,898.67. This represents a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

HP Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:HPQ opened at $33.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.51 and a 200 day moving average of $35.81. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79.

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

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

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.93%.

Institutional Trading of HP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in HP by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,871,046,000 after purchasing an additional 3,923,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in HP by 11.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,770,491 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $885,877,000 after buying an additional 2,477,977 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in HP by 6.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 22,451,096 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $786,237,000 after buying an additional 1,319,731 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in HP by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,184,306 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $508,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of HP by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,710,450 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $375,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089,848 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.45.

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.