HP (NYSE:HPQ) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Friday.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup raised HP from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, November 13th. Bank of America raised HP from an underperform rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 3rd. Edward Jones raised HP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on HP from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on HP from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $30.82.

HP Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE HPQ opened at $27.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.84 and its 200 day moving average is $29.56. HP has a 12 month low of $25.22 and a 12 month high of $33.90. The stock has a market cap of $27.66 billion, a PE ratio of 12.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 29th. The computer maker reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86. HP had a negative return on equity of 113.55% and a net margin of 4.23%. The company had revenue of $13.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that HP will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 13th will be paid a $0.2756 dividend. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 12th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.75, for a total value of $978,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 728,268 shares in the company, valued at $18,752,901. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.75, for a total value of $978,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 728,268 shares in the company, valued at $18,752,901. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 938,968 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.59, for a total value of $27,784,063.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 120,013,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,551,209,821.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,457,179 shares of company stock worth $388,231,371 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P increased its stake in shares of HP by 89.9% during the first quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 873,243 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $31,698,000 after buying an additional 413,491 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in HP by 46.6% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 305,877 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $11,103,000 after purchasing an additional 97,178 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC bought a new stake in HP during the first quarter valued at about $892,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in HP by 6.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,651 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HP during the first quarter valued at about $309,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.04% of the company’s stock.

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.