Bailard Inc. Buys 357 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Bailard Inc. raised its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 20,993 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $685,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 9,412 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the period. Hickory Point Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $240,000. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 53,026 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,930 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 4,562 shares during the period. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter valued at about $989,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total value of $357,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 40,287 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total transaction of $1,401,987.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,250,724.80. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 262,737 shares of company stock worth $9,316,641. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

HP stock opened at $30.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $28.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.35 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. Sell-side analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HPQ has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, HP has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.59.

HP 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.