HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Insider Kristen M. Ludgate Sells 74,356 Shares

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total transaction of $2,560,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at $1,933,898.67. This trade represents a 56.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $34.20 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.82. HP Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $32.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. HP’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the computer maker to repurchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HPQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. HSBC downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Bank of America cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.45.

Institutional Trading of HP

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Chris Bulman Inc purchased a new stake in HP during the 2nd quarter worth $88,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 47.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 146,608 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $5,259,000 after buying an additional 47,230 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of HP by 16.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,153,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $41,391,000 after buying an additional 160,268 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 2nd quarter valued at about $621,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in HP by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 193,700 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $6,947,000 after acquiring an additional 19,845 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.