Perennial Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Perennial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 15,500 shares of the computer maker's stock, valued at approximately $506,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in HP by 8.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,307,573 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $82,772,000 after purchasing an additional 183,741 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of HP by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 235,697 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $7,691,000 after buying an additional 22,139 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 12,151 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 36,035 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,176,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035 shares during the period. Finally, Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 188,368 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $6,146,000 after acquiring an additional 8,962 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company's stock.

HP Stock Down 8.2%

HPQ stock traded down $2.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $24.97. The company had a trading volume of 26,450,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,018,453. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.87. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.21 and a 12 month high of $39.80. The stock has a market cap of $23.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.89, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.32.

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

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 11th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.64%. HP's payout ratio is presently 41.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $453,734.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total transaction of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 169 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,814.81. The trade was a 99.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on HPQ. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. KGI Securities assumed coverage on HP in a research report on Thursday. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on HP from $40.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $25.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on HP from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $29.54.

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.