HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Receives $34.64 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.64.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,807,082.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of HP by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 12,560 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of HP by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 27,858 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $716,000 after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of HP by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 229,454 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,889,000 after purchasing an additional 51,823 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of HP by 2,231.5% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 111,610 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $2,868,000 after purchasing an additional 106,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HAP Trading LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 3rd quarter valued at $328,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HPQ opened at $35.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.22 and a 200-day moving average of $30.15. HP has a one year low of $25.22 and a one year high of $39.52. The company has a market cap of $34.75 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.12.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The computer maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $12.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.61 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.60% and a negative return on equity of 230.39%. HP’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Analysts expect that HP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a $0.2756 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. HP’s payout ratio is presently 37.16%.

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.