HP (NYSE:HPQ) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on HPQ. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of HP from $36.50 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $33.83.

HP Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE HPQ traded up $0.13 during trading on Monday, hitting $28.78. 7,928,518 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,872,799. HP has a 1 year low of $21.21 and a 1 year high of $39.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.32.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. Research analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HP news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814.81. This trade 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $453,734.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $825,398,000 after purchasing an additional 579,525 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HP by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,776,697 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $482,164,000 after purchasing an additional 592,391 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in HP by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,844,795 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $419,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755,942 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in HP by 19.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,340,629 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $314,022,000 after buying an additional 1,829,411 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of HP by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 9,289,164 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $303,105,000 after purchasing an additional 707,742 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.