Plato Investment Management Ltd Sells 1,405 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Plato Investment Management Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 30,667 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 1,405 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in HP were worth $1,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in HP by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 21,859 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,621 shares during the period. Optas LLC acquired a new position in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in HP by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 213,558 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $7,660,000 after acquiring an additional 37,669 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in HP by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,052 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in HP by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 37,550 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 2,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of HPQ opened at $30.03 on Tuesday. HP Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.80. The stock has a market cap of $28.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.69, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05.

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, 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 firm had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.35 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 41.37%.

Insider Activity at HP

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on HPQ shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Citigroup cut their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.