Flputnam Investment Management Co. Purchases Shares of 7,019 HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 7,019 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of HP by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,509,674 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,019,999,000 after buying an additional 12,883,347 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in HP by 114,461.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,538,630 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $310,043,000 after acquiring an additional 11,528,558 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in HP by 4,180.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,516,510 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $286,352,000 after acquiring an additional 9,294,209 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $151,025,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in shares of HP by 145.9% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 6,090,872 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $156,535,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613,742 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at HP

In related news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total value of $2,010,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other HP news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $269,338.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HPQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, HSBC raised shares of HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.11.

HP Price Performance

HPQ stock opened at $27.62 on Friday. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.22 and a 12 month high of $33.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.35 and its 200 day moving average is $28.77. The company has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a PE ratio of 8.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81. The business had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.56 billion. HP had a net margin of 6.45% and a negative return on equity of 181.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.2756 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.16%.

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.