HP (NYSE:HPQ) Price Target Raised to $39.00

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its target price upped by TD Cowen from $32.00 to $39.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the computer maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.32.

HP Price Performance

HP stock opened at $34.66 on Wednesday. HP has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.52.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

HP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. HP’s payout ratio is presently 38.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of HP stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99.48. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in HP in the third quarter worth $25,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in HP in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HP in the second quarter worth $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in HP by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in HP during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.