Avanza Fonder AB Invests $3.29 Million in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 100,770 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,288,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. LVW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of HP by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 23,884 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $857,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 3,856 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of HP by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,321 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $191,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of HP by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,635 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Finally, Arvest Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HP by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 34,355 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at HP

In related news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,002.50. This trade represents a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 273,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,670,068. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on HPQ shares. Bank of America cut shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.23.

HP Stock Performance

HP stock opened at $32.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $30.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.36.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. This is a boost from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

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.