Kentucky Retirement Systems Buys 3,136 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 4.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 68,172 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,136 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in HP were worth $2,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of HP by 6.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 22,451,096 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $786,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319,731 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in HP by 11.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,710,450 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $375,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,848 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of HP by 3.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,402,432 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $294,253,000 after purchasing an additional 287,861 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of HP by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,359,174 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $186,928,000 after purchasing an additional 213,116 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in HP by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 4,199,076 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $150,621,000 after buying an additional 165,407 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on HPQ shares. Citigroup cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.55.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $36.72 on Monday. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.52. The company has a market cap of $35.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $35.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.08.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.