Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,137,381 shares of the computer maker's stock after buying an additional 14,296 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of HP worth $31,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 28,281 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter worth about $36,492,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of HP during the fourth quarter worth about $2,325,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of HP by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 413,617 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $13,496,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on HPQ. Bank of America cut their target price on HP from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on HP from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. TD Cowen cut their target price on HP from $38.00 to $28.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on HP from $35.00 to $25.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on HP from $29.00 to $27.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned 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 a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.54.

HP Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE HPQ traded up $0.28 on Thursday, reaching $25.90. The company had a trading volume of 4,818,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,937,615. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.32 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $26.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.58. 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 posted its quarterly 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). HP had a net margin of 4.64% and a negative return on equity of 244.99%. The business had revenue of $13.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid 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 4.47%. HP's payout ratio is 44.79%.

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.