B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 4,143 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,524 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 4,143 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of HP in the third quarter worth $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in HP by 115.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in HP in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter valued at about $43,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Price Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $32.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day moving average of $36.26 and a 200 day moving average of $35.74. HP Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s payout ratio is 40.93%.

Insider Activity at HP

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,253,964.40. This trade represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 262,035 shares of company stock worth $9,312,568 in the last ninety days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on HPQ shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Bank of America cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.45.

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.