B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lessened its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 30.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,524 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 4,143 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in HP during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC bought a new stake in HP in the second quarter worth $43,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HPQ opened at $32.94 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.72, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04. HP Inc. has a one year low of $27.42 and a one year high of $39.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.26 and a 200 day moving average of $35.74.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.93%.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on HPQ shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. HSBC downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HP has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.45.

Insider Transactions at HP

In related news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total transaction of $2,560,077.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,898.67. The trade was a 56.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 262,035 shares of company stock worth $9,312,568 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.