HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Shares Acquired by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 158.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 355,040 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 217,910 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $11,585,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HPQ. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of HP in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $269,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in HP by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,353 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in HP by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,013 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in HP by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 41,014 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after buying an additional 3,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in HP by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,332 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of HPQ opened at $32.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.96. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79.

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

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on HPQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup reduced their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Hsbc Global Res lowered HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. HSBC lowered HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at $204,002.50. This trade represents a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 273,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,670,068 over the last three months. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.