Sowell Financial Services LLC Acquires 4,586 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Sowell Financial Services LLC lifted its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 18.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,962 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,586 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of HP by 3.2% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 9,635 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Auxano Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of HP by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 8,650 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of HP by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,648 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its position in HP by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 12,265 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the period. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its holdings in HP by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 20,384 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $665,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the period. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on HPQ shares. Hsbc Global Res cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. HSBC downgraded 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 research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 40,287 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.80, for a total transaction of $1,401,987.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,250,724.80. The trade was a 38.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the insider now owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 125,643 shares of company stock valued at $4,319,565 over the last quarter. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

HP Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:HPQ opened at $29.94 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.61. The company has a market capitalization of $28.22 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. HP Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.43 and a 12-month high of $39.80.

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

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.37%.

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.