HP (NYSE:HPQ) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $37.00 target price on the computer maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on HPQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of HP from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of HP from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of HP from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of HP from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of HP from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HP has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $34.64.

HP Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $35.09 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.09. HP has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $39.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.13.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The computer maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $12.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.61 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.60% and a negative return on equity of 230.39%. HP’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a $0.2756 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,335,450.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Sawyer & Company Inc increased its holdings in shares of HP by 900.0% during the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of HP by 377.9% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HP during the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.