121,951 Shares in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Purchased by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 121,951 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,670,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in HP by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 25,848 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in HP by 47.9% in the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,174 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of HP by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,416 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc raised its position in HP by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 8,879 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HPQ shares. HSBC raised HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.11.

HP Stock Performance

HP stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $28.13. 5,024,431 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,009,361. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.22 and a 52 week high of $33.90. The firm has a market cap of $27.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.84.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $13.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.2756 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

HP Profile

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.