HP (NYSE:HPQ) Trading Down 16.9% – Here’s What Happened

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)’s stock price traded down 16.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $23.27 and last traded at $23.16. 4,101,472 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 7,458,373 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on HPQ. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.14.

HP Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $21.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $30.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.72.

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

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s payout ratio is 41.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This represents a 99.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $453,734.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of HP by 5.0% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 15,295 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 723 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in HP by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 20,066 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in HP by 46.5% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 6,510 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in HP by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 259,257 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $8,460,000 after purchasing an additional 28,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 111 Capital bought a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter valued at about $557,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.