PDS Planning Inc Buys 444 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

PDS Planning Inc increased its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,416 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in HP were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Hsbc Global Res lowered HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. HSBC downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.14.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of HP stock opened at $28.76 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.11 billion, a PE ratio of 10.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.28. HP Inc. has a one year low of $27.43 and a one year high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. On average, equities analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. HP’s payout ratio is 41.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total value of $357,500.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.