HP (NYSE:HPQ) Shares Gap Down to $36.85

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $36.85, but opened at $35.76. HP shares last traded at $35.54, with a volume of 1,799,417 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital dropped 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

HP Trading Down 3.4 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.17. The company has a market capitalization of $34.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a negative return on equity of 266.37% and a net margin of 5.33%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer maker to reacquire up to 28.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $7,013,373.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HP

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. Sawyer & Company Inc raised its holdings in HP by 900.0% in the first quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 1,000 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of HP by 377.9% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of HP during the second quarter worth $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of HP during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC purchased a new position in HP in the second quarter valued at $43,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.