Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 211,478 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $6,901,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of HP in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of HP in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of HP in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of HP during the third quarter worth $44,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, HP currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 89,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 262,737 shares of company stock valued at $9,316,641. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HP Stock Down 2.7 %

HPQ stock opened at $30.03 on Tuesday. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The business had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.35 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.37%.

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.