West Branch Capital LLC Sells 3,557 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

West Branch Capital LLC lessened its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 68.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,634 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 3,557 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Sawyer & Company Inc raised its position in HP by 900.0% during the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in HP in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in HP in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in HP by 115.1% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at HP

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $99.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

HP Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:HPQ traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $37.28. The company had a trading volume of 4,726,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,897,425. The firm has a market cap of $36.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.07. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.67 and a 52 week high of $39.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.88.

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

HP declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on HPQ shares. 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 report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.55.

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.