Ascent Group LLC Has $1.58 Million Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Ascent Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 4.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 44,047 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 1,930 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $1,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $62,672,000. DME Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of HP by 108.7% in the second quarter. DME Capital Management LP now owns 3,373,030 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $118,124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,757,070 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in HP by 11.4% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,184,306 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $508,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455,138 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in HP by 6.2% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 22,451,096 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $786,237,000 after buying an additional 1,319,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP increased its holdings in HP by 2,649.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,318,599 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $47,298,000 after buying an additional 1,270,642 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $36.44 on Tuesday. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.62. The company has a market cap of $35.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 39.15%.

HP declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HPQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup dropped their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.77.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. This trade represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company 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.