MetLife Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 265,214 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,983 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $9,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in HP by 1.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,191,666 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $36,013,000 after purchasing an additional 15,675 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of HP during the 1st quarter valued at $21,286,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of HP by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 109,493 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,309,000 after buying an additional 66,510 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 43.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 11,830 shares during the period. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its position in HP by 66.6% during the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,644 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HP Price Performance

HPQ stock opened at $34.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07. HP Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP announced that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s payout ratio is currently 38.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HPQ shares. Barclays boosted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.32.

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.