HP (NYSE:HPQ) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• HP shares gapped up after JPMorgan raised its price target from $22 to $26, with the stock opening above its prior close and trading higher on heavy volume.
• HP also delivered a beat on quarterly earnings and revenue, reporting $0.86 EPS on $14.41 billion in sales, both above analyst expectations, helped by stronger demand in AI PCs and the Windows 11 refresh cycle.
• Despite the earnings beat, HP cut full-year profit guidance to $2.15 to $2.45 per share from $2.47 to $2.77, citing memory cost pressure and softer demand, which keeps analyst sentiment cautious overall.

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $26.00. The stock had previously closed at $25.01, but opened at $26.70. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. HP shares last traded at $27.62, with a volume of 10,333,641 shares traded.

HPQ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on HP from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of HP from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore set a $22.00 price target on shares of HP in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of HP in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of HP from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $23.08.

Key Headlines Impacting HP

Here are the key news stories impacting HP this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HP beat second-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, which signals resilient demand and better-than-expected execution. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: AI PC sales and the Windows 11 upgrade cycle are supporting growth in the Personal Systems segment, a key near-term driver for HP. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several brokerages raised price targets, but ratings remained cautious, suggesting analysts see limited upside despite the earnings beat. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Management’s earnings call emphasized balancing AI growth with cost discipline, indicating HP is still managing margin pressure rather than seeing a clear reacceleration. Yahoo Finance article
• Negative Sentiment: HP cut its full-year profit guidance to $2.15 to $2.45 per share from a prior $2.47 to $2.77, citing memory cost pressure and softer unit demand, which is the main reason the stock is lower. WSJ article
• Negative Sentiment: Rising memory costs and slowing demand raise concerns that near-term margins could compress even as revenue grows. Proactive Investors article

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HPQ. Garner Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new position in HP in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in HP during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in HP by 97.0% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Union Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of HP in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $25.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.10.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The computer maker reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $14.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 4.45% and a negative return on equity of 467.21%. HP's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. HP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.610-0.710 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.45%.

About HP

HP Inc is an American multinational information technology company that designs, manufactures and sells personal computing devices, printers and related supplies and services. Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial notebooks and desktops, workstations, displays and accessories, as well as an extensive line of printing hardware that includes home, office and production printers. HP also provides consumables such as ink and toner, managed print services, device deployment and lifecycle support, and software for device and print management.

Founded from the original Hewlett‑Packard Company, HP Inc became a separately traded public company in 2015 following a corporate split that created Hewlett Packard Enterprise to focus on enterprise hardware and services.

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