HP (NYSE:HPQ) Price Target Cut to $41.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its price target trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $42.00 to $41.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the computer maker’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup downgraded shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.45.

HP Stock Down 0.5 %

HP stock opened at $36.70 on Wednesday. HP has a twelve month low of $27.42 and a twelve month high of $39.52. The stock has a market cap of $35.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.22.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. State Street Corp increased its holdings in HP by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,871,046,000 after acquiring an additional 3,923,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of HP by 11.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,770,491 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $885,877,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477,977 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in shares of HP by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 22,451,096 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $786,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319,731 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HP by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,184,306 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $508,791,000 after buying an additional 1,455,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in HP by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,710,450 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $375,079,000 after buying an additional 1,089,848 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.