Sovran Advisors LLC Takes $993,000 Position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 30,397 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $993,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in HP in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in shares of HP by 115.1% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP in the third quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Up 1.0 %

HP stock opened at $33.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.2894 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HPQ shares. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays lifted their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.23.

Insider Activity

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,219,680.32. The trade was a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,253,964.40. This trade represents a 60.56 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.