HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) Shares Purchased by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 27.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,057 shares of the computer maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,778 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $2,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of HP by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 355,040 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $11,585,000 after buying an additional 217,910 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in HP by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,177 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter worth about $250,000. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. raised its stake in shares of HP by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 617,584 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $20,152,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of HP by 39.4% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 25,394 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $829,000 after purchasing an additional 7,179 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,219,680.32. This represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. The trade was a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock valued at $9,670,068. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on HPQ shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Hsbc Global Res lowered HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. HSBC downgraded shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.23.

HP Trading Down 1.0 %

HPQ opened at $32.26 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.49 and its 200-day moving average is $34.94. The stock has a market cap of $30.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.93%.

HP 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.