Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $614,000 in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 22,158 shares of the computer maker's stock, valued at approximately $614,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in HP in the fourth quarter valued at about $229,320,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of HP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,260,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in HP in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,612,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in HP by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,844,795 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $419,126,000 after buying an additional 1,755,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP during the fourth quarter worth $55,915,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays set a $28.00 price objective on HP and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Dbs Bank downgraded HP from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of HP from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $25.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of HP from $40.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.54.

HP Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE HPQ traded down $0.57 on Friday, hitting $24.17. 1,047,970 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,832,487. The company has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.60, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.69 and a 200-day moving average of $29.93. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.21 and a 12 month high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The computer maker reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.80 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $13.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.09 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This represents a 99.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $453,734.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.38% of the company's stock.

HP 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.