Kristen M. Ludgate Sells 74,356 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Stock

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total value of $2,560,077.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,898.67. This represents a 56.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

HP Stock Performance

HP stock opened at $34.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.82. HP Inc. has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. HP’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s payout ratio is presently 40.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.45.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in HP by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,871,046,000 after buying an additional 3,923,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of HP by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,770,491 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $885,877,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477,977 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted 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 valued at $786,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319,731 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of HP by 11.4% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,184,306 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $508,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455,138 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in HP by 11.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,710,450 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $375,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,848 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.