M&G Plc Purchases New Shares in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 592,052 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $17,762,000. M&G Plc owned 0.06% of HP at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HP by 4,180.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,516,510 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $286,352,000 after acquiring an additional 9,294,209 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in HP during the 4th quarter valued at $187,264,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 1,472.4% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,264,081 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $68,126,000 after purchasing an additional 2,120,096 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of HP by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 5,030,982 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $151,382,000 after buying an additional 2,064,869 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 10,188.2% during the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,777,912 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $53,680,000 after buying an additional 1,760,631 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Trading Down 0.6 %

HP stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.15. 4,773,663 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,861,315. HP Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.22 and a 1-year high of $39.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $35.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.22. The stock has a market cap of $36.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The computer maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $12.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.61 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 230.39% and a net margin of 5.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a $0.2756 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on HPQ shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of HP from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of HP from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.64.

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.