Morgan Stanley Lowers HP (NYSE:HPQ) to Equal Weight

HP (NYSE:HPQ) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $37.00 price objective on the computer maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 6.29% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on HPQ. UBS Group raised their target price on HP from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays increased their target price on HP from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, HP presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.64.

HP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $34.81 on Monday. HP has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $39.52. The company has a market cap of $34.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.76, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $35.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The computer maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.01. HP had a negative return on equity of 230.39% and a net margin of 5.60%. The firm had revenue of $12.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sawyer & Company Inc increased its position in shares of HP by 900.0% during the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in HP by 377.9% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the period. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in HP during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in HP in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new position in HP during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.