Morgan Stanley Lowers HP (NYSE:HPQ) Price Target to $17.00

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley cut HP’s price target from $19 to $17 and maintained an “underweight” rating, implying roughly 41% downside from the reported $28.70 share price.
• HP’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $0.86 versus a $0.72 consensus estimate and revenue of $14.41 billion, up 9% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious overall: HP has a consensus “Reduce” rating and an average price target of $24.17, while insiders have sold shares in recent months.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "underweight" rating on the computer maker's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential downside of 40.78% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of HP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Barclays raised their price objective on HP from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on HP from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on HP from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on HP from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $24.17.

HP Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of NYSE:HPQ traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $28.70. The stock had a trading volume of 4,281,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,279,004. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.42. HP has a twelve month low of $17.56 and a twelve month high of $32.19. The firm has a market cap of $26.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.17.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $14.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 4.45% and a negative return on equity of 581.36%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. 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, equities analysts anticipate that HP will post 2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David P. Mcquarrie sold 21,048 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.98, for a total value of $631,019.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 39,580 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,186,608.40. This represents a 34.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,620 shares of company stock valued at $1,478,622. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HP

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of HP by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 132,094,388 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $2,943,063,000 after buying an additional 2,435,634 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in HP during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,357,757,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in HP by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 52,703,639 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $1,450,245,000 after acquiring an additional 2,651,623 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of HP by 2,151.8% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 35,563,906 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $780,272,000 after acquiring an additional 33,984,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HP by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,313,924 shares of the computer maker's stock worth $607,373,000 after acquiring an additional 274,033 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

HP Company Profile

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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