Empower Advisory Group LLC Lowers Holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Empower Advisory Group LLC trimmed its holdings in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,676 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 2,082 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in HP were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HP Trading Up 1.5 %

HPQ stock opened at $34.72 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $32.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.05. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.81.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion during 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%. HP’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on HPQ. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of HP from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of HP from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.23.

Insider Transactions at HP

In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 10,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.32, for a total transaction of $353,427.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at $2,219,680.32. This trade represents a 13.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 11,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $357,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,002.50. This represents a 63.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 273,035 shares of company stock worth $9,670,068 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

HP 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.