HP (NYSE:HPQ) Downgraded by Hsbc Global Res to “Hold”

Hsbc Global Res cut shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.77.

HP Price Performance

HPQ stock opened at $35.43 on Friday. HP has a 12 month low of $27.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.14 billion, a PE ratio of 12.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.56.

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

HP announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 directly owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP in the third quarter worth $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in HP in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in HP by 115.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in HP during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Company 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.