Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stock Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,406 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 945 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of HP by 33.0% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 283,068 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $8,554,000 after acquiring an additional 70,271 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of HP by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,791 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new position in HP during the first quarter worth about $17,762,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of HP by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,778,246 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $3,649,919,000 after buying an additional 3,062,441 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its position in HP by 1.2% in the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 34,228 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Price Performance

NYSE HPQ opened at $36.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.98. HP Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $39.52. The company has a market capitalization of $35.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 repurchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99.48. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HPQ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.55.

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.