HP (NYSE:HPQ) Upgraded to “Equal Weight” at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $30.00 target price on the computer maker’s stock, up from their prior target price of $24.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on HPQ. Bank of America boosted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. HSBC raised HP from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of HP from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $34.00.

HP Price Performance

NYSE:HPQ opened at $32.75 on Tuesday. HP has a one year low of $25.22 and a one year high of $33.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.06.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.81. HP had a net margin of 6.45% and a negative return on equity of 181.02%. The company had revenue of $13.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that HP will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2756 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was 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 hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total transaction of $1,199,278.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,642,381.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 116,723 shares of company stock worth $3,479,287. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Sawyer & Company Inc lifted its stake in HP by 900.0% in the 1st quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in HP by 116.7% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,051 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in HP by 377.9% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.