HP (NYSE:HPQ) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

HP (NYSE:HPQ) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.93, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share.

HP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $39.08 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.53. HP has a fifty-two week low of $27.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of 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 reduced their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HP presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.45.

Insider Activity at HP

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3 shares in the company, valued at $99.48. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.