Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Sells 32,403 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Key Points

• Empirical Wealth Management reduced its stake in HP Inc. by 7.3% during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 414,445 shares worth approximately $11.5 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Northern Trust Corp and KBC Group NV, increased their positions in HP during the fourth quarter, indicating growing interest among institutional stakeholders.
• HP's earnings per share for the last quarter was $0.71, missing estimates, while the company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.2894 per share on October 1st, providing an annual yield of 4.62%.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lowered its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 414,445 shares of the computer maker's stock after selling 32,403 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in HP were worth $11,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in HP by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,350,016 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $825,398,000 after acquiring an additional 579,525 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 639,423 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $20,864,000 after acquiring an additional 122,289 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,481,000. BayBridge Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,505,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 71.7% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 698,376 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $22,788,000 after acquiring an additional 291,525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company's stock.

HP Stock Performance

NYSE:HPQ traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $24.45. 7,929,429 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,783,987. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $25.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.65. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.21 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $22.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.29.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The computer maker reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.80 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $13.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.09 billion. HP had a net margin of 4.64% and a negative return on equity of 244.99%. HP's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on HPQ shares. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. KGI Securities assumed coverage on shares of HP in a report on Thursday, May 29th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on HP from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $29.54.

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.