HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Stake Cut by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 102,064 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 6,770 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in HP were worth $3,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. LVW Advisors LLC increased its stake in HP by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 23,884 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. Castleview Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 3,856 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of HP by 5.9% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,321 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $191,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in HP by 3.2% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,635 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Investments Inc. grew its stake in HP by 0.9% in the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 34,355 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Price Performance

HPQ stock opened at $32.55 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.04. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 40.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total transaction of $4,997,076.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at $3,253,964.40. This represents a 60.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HPQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. HSBC downgraded shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.23.

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.