The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Boosts Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 724,295 shares of the computer maker’s stock after buying an additional 19,342 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.07% of HP worth $25,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chris Bulman Inc purchased a new stake in HP in the second quarter valued at $88,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of HP by 27.5% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 106,316 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $3,213,000 after buying an additional 22,909 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in HP by 85.9% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 174,585 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $5,275,000 after acquiring an additional 80,670 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in HP by 1.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,819,100 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $85,193,000 after acquiring an additional 37,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $981,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays decreased 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. UBS Group raised their target price on HP from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America cut HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded HP from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

HP Stock Down 3.1 %

HP stock opened at $34.75 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.07. HP Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $39.52.

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

HP announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer maker to buy up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Enrique Lores sold 211,501 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $7,013,373.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.