State of Michigan Retirement System Lowers Stock Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 331,262 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in HP were worth $10,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in HP during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This represents a 60.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,002.50. This trade represents a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 262,737 shares of company stock valued at $9,316,641. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.14.

HP Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:HPQ opened at $29.60 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.91 billion, a PE ratio of 10.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.72.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.35 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.37%.

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.