HP Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:HPQ)

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 16,083 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 23% compared to the typical daily volume of 13,041 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on HPQ shares. Barclays increased their price objective on HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. HSBC upgraded HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, HP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.11.

HP Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE HPQ traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.43. 8,200,981 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,956,123. HP has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $33.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.84. The stock has a market cap of $27.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.09, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81. HP had a negative return on equity of 181.02% and a net margin of 6.45%. The firm had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that HP will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.2756 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. HP’s payout ratio is currently 32.16%.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $269,338.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $269,338.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total value of $2,010,670.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at $1,807,082.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 116,723 shares of company stock worth $3,479,287. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in HP by 84.6% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 866 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sawyer & Company Inc lifted its position in shares of HP by 900.0% during the 1st quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of HP by 116.7% during the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,051 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of HP by 377.9% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.