KBC Group NV Boosts Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 145.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,555,989 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,105,104 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned 0.38% of HP worth $116,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in HP by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 968 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in HP in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at HP

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total value of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $357,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,002.50. The trade was a 63.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on HPQ. Barclays raised their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup dropped their target price on HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, HP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.23.

HP Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of HP stock opened at $32.73 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.27.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. The firm had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. HP’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Increases Dividend

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

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.