Leisure Capital Management Reduces Stake in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Leisure Capital Management reduced its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,194 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 7,712 shares during the period. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in HP were worth $1,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in HP by 84.6% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 866 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in HP during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its position in HP by 116.7% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,051 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA purchased a new position in HP during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in HP by 47.9% during the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,174 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $2,010,670.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at $1,807,082.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 8,708 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $269,338.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert R. Bennett sold 67,000 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total value of $2,010,670.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,216 shares in the company, valued at $1,807,082.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,723 shares of company stock worth $3,479,287 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HPQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. HSBC upgraded HP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut HP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on HP from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, HP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.11.

HP Stock Performance

HP stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $28.00. The stock had a trading volume of 5,356,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,076,379. HP Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.22 and a twelve month high of $33.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.85.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The computer maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81. The company had revenue of $13.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.56 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 181.02% and a net margin of 6.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.2756 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.16%.

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.