HP Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:HPQ)

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 16,083 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 23% compared to the average daily volume of 13,041 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in shares of HP by 84.6% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 866 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HP during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Sawyer & Company Inc increased its position in HP by 900.0% during the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its position in HP by 116.7% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,051 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in HP by 377.9% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE HPQ traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $28.43. 8,200,981 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,956,123. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.84. HP has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $33.90. The company has a market capitalization of $27.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. HP’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that HP will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.2756 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. HP’s payout ratio is 32.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.