HP (NYSE:HPQ) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Citigroup

Citigroup lowered shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $37.00 price objective on the computer maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America cut HP from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $37.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, September 27th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $35.55.

HP Price Performance

NYSE HPQ opened at $35.99 on Tuesday. HP has a 1 year low of $25.59 and a 1 year high of $39.52. The company has a market capitalization of $35.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.80 and a 200 day moving average of $33.38.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. Research analysts expect that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in HP by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 40,274 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,445,000 after buying an additional 9,145 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of HP by 21.2% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 199,343 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $7,150,000 after acquiring an additional 34,881 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of HP by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 20,482 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 4,546 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park National Corp OH purchased a new position in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.