Kentucky Retirement Systems Reduces Stock Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its position in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,246 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 926 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in HP were worth $2,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in HP during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 74,356 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total value of $2,560,077.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,898.67. The trade was a 56.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,670,068 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

HP Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE HPQ opened at $34.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.10 and a 200 day moving average of $34.84.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. HP’s payout ratio is currently 40.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HPQ. Barclays upped their target price on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. 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 research note on Wednesday, November 20th. HSBC downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.68.

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.