Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Buys 8,962 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC raised its stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 188,368 shares of the computer maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,962 shares during the quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $6,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HPQ. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in HP by 78.9% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 17,978 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $630,000 after buying an additional 7,931 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $269,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in HP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $306,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in HP during the second quarter worth about $2,415,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in HP by 2.7% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 724,295 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $25,365,000 after buying an additional 19,342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other HP news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 137,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total value of $4,997,076.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 89,272 shares in the company, valued at $3,253,964.40. This trade represents a 60.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 64,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,219,680.32. This trade represents a 13.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP Stock Performance

HPQ opened at $32.73 on Friday. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $30.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $34.38 and its 200-day moving average is $35.27.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.2894 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, HSBC cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, November 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.23.

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.