Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Lowers Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. decreased its holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 21.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,999 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 13,137 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in HP were worth $1,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in HP by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,801,428 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,871,046,000 after buying an additional 3,923,161 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of HP by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,770,491 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $885,877,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477,977 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HP by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,776,697 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $482,164,000 after purchasing an additional 592,391 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of HP by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,581,422 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $307,816,000 after purchasing an additional 612,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of HP by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,833,728 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $222,985,000 after purchasing an additional 90,606 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total value of $357,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of HPQ opened at $28.68 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $32.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.32. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.43 and a 52-week high of $39.80. The firm has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.21, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.2894 dividend. 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 4.04%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HPQ. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.14.

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.