Man Group plc Sells 153,197 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Man Group plc decreased its holdings in shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 24.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 486,452 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 153,197 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in HP were worth $15,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in HP during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in HP during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in HP during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in HP during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in HP by 71.9% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of HP from $40.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of HP from $40.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.17.

Insider Transactions at HP

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

HP Stock Performance

HPQ opened at $29.34 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.28. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.21 and a 52 week high of $39.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.65 billion, a PE ratio of 10.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.32.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74. HP had a net margin of 5.18% and a negative return on equity of 253.39%. The firm had revenue of $13.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.35 billion. Equities analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.2894 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 41.37%.

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.