HP (NYSE:HPQ) Sets New 52-Week Low After Insider Selling

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $27.30 and last traded at $27.47, with a volume of 449962 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.90.

Specifically, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total transaction of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 169 shares in the company, valued at $4,814.81. The trade was a 99.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $453,734.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HPQ. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.14.

HP Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.48 and a 200-day moving average of $33.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. HP’s payout ratio is currently 41.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of HP by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,871,046,000 after buying an additional 3,923,161 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,350,016 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $825,398,000 after acquiring an additional 579,525 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HP by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,776,697 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $482,164,000 after purchasing an additional 592,391 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of HP by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,844,795 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $419,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in HP by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,511,218 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $310,351,000 after purchasing an additional 643,192 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

About HP

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.