Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Lowers Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management decreased its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 329,430 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 23,576 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in HP were worth $9,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of HP by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 25,848 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of HP by 18.8% in 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 during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of HP by 84.6% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 866 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp raised its holdings in HP by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 14,683 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity at HP

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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at $1,642,381.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were 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. Insiders have sold a total of 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

HP Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of HPQ traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $28.42. 4,347,998 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,809,737. The company’s 50 day moving average is $29.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.93. The company has a market capitalization of $27.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.31, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.06. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.22 and a 52 week high of $33.90.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.81. The firm had revenue of $13.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

HP Company 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.