Quadrature Capital Ltd Decreases Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Quadrature Capital Ltd cut its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 35.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 94,968 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 53,194 shares during the quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in HP were worth $3,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in HP by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 109,493 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,309,000 after buying an additional 66,510 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 43.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,796 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 11,830 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in HP by 7.0% during the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 31,129 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in HP by 6.2% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 37,501 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in HP by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,495 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on HPQ shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. HSBC lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, HP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.77.

Insider Activity at HP

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99.48. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

HP Stock Down 0.6 %

HPQ opened at $36.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $34.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.04. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.70.

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. The business had revenue of $14.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. HP’s payout ratio is presently 39.15%.

HP announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.