Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Boosts Stock Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 81,738 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,380 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in HP were worth $2,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in HP by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,966,113 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $76,229,000 after buying an additional 112,427 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in HP by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 21,204 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $545,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its holdings in HP by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 62,575 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,608,000 after buying an additional 5,064 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in HP by 87.9% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 765,799 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $22,960,000 after buying an additional 358,231 shares during the period. Finally, CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,758,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HPQ. Barclays boosted their target price on HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. HSBC upgraded HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.11.

HP Stock Performance

HP stock opened at $27.68 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.15 billion, a PE ratio of 8.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a one year low of $25.22 and a one year high of $33.90.

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

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.2756 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. HP’s payout ratio is 32.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total value of $1,199,278.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $269,338.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total value of $1,199,278.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,642,381.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.41% 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.