Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,738 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in HP were worth $2,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in HP by 12.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,509,674 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $3,019,999,000 after buying an additional 12,883,347 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in HP by 6.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,131,560 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $260,381,000 after buying an additional 589,775 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in HP by 4,180.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,516,510 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $286,352,000 after buying an additional 9,294,209 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in HP by 13.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,220,098 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $211,257,000 after buying an additional 995,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in HP by 145.9% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 6,090,872 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $156,535,000 after buying an additional 3,613,742 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HPQ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. HSBC raised shares of HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HP presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.11.

Insider Activity at HP

In related news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total value of $1,199,278.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 56,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,642,381.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other HP news, insider Kristen M. Ludgate sold 41,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.24, for a total value of $1,199,278.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,169 shares in the company, valued at $1,642,381.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at $1,807,082.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,723 shares of company stock valued at $3,479,287 over the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of HPQ opened at $27.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.15 billion, a PE ratio of 8.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.22 and a 1 year high of $33.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.84.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.81. The firm had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.56 billion. HP had a net margin of 6.45% and a negative return on equity of 181.02%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.2756 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.16%.

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.