Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 126,231,398 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 3,791,079 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 13.46% of HP worth $4,118,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in HP in the fourth quarter worth about $726,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in HP by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 415,970 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $13,573,000 after acquiring an additional 25,169 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,285,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in HP by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,941,573 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $161,244,000 after purchasing an additional 237,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 43.9% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 91,339 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $2,980,000 after purchasing an additional 27,885 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $28.99 on Tuesday. HP Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.43 and a 1-year high of $39.80. The business’s 50 day moving average is $31.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.32, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HPQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. HSBC cut shares of 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, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.14.

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.