HP (NYSE:HPQ) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Bank of America

HP (NYSE:HPQ) was downgraded by stock analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $37.00 price target on the computer maker’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 4.49% from the company’s current price.

HPQ has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $35.41 on Friday. HP has a 52-week low of $25.22 and a 52-week high of $39.52. The stock has a market cap of $34.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $34.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.20.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.37 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. Analysts predict that HP will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value 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. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in HP by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 401,809 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $12,090,000 after purchasing an additional 4,102 shares during the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc bought a new position in shares of HP during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $88,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HP by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 106,316 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,213,000 after acquiring an additional 22,909 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in HP by 85.9% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 174,585 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,275,000 after acquiring an additional 80,670 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in HP by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,819,100 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $85,193,000 after purchasing an additional 37,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.