Morgan Stanley Boosts HP (NYSE:HPQ) Price Target to $29.00

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its price target increased by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $25.00 to $29.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the computer maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 1.79% from the stock’s previous close.

HPQ has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on HP from $40.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on HP from $40.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective on HP from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.67.

HP Trading Down 0.4%

HPQ stock opened at $28.49 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.11. HP has a 1-year low of $21.21 and a 1-year high of $39.80. The stock has a market cap of $26.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.32.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. As a group, analysts forecast that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at HP

In related news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of HP stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $453,734.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,814.81. The trade was a 99.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of HP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HPQ. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of HP by 745.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 863,664 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $23,908,000 after purchasing an additional 761,494 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of HP by 3.4% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 161,872 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $4,502,000 after purchasing an additional 5,358 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of HP during the first quarter worth about $102,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its position in shares of HP by 1.2% during the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 31,030 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $869,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC grew its position in shares of HP by 14.1% during the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 13,601 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.