Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Makes New Investment in HP Inc. $HPQ

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 45,183 shares of the computer maker’s stock, valued at approximately $991,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HPQ. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of HP during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,057,000. Chou Associates Management Inc. acquired a new stake in HP in the 2nd quarter valued at $581,000. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new stake in HP in the 2nd quarter valued at $8,123,000. Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new position in HP in the second quarter valued at about $135,000. Finally, Korea Investment CORP acquired a new position in shares of HP during the second quarter worth about $5,870,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider David P. Mcquarrie sold 21,048 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.98, for a total transaction of $631,019.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 39,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,186,608.40. This trade represents a 34.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,620 shares of company stock worth $1,478,622. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

HP Price Performance

Shares of HPQ stock opened at $29.56 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $25.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.17. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.56 and a 12 month high of $32.19.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The computer maker reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.14. HP had a negative return on equity of 581.36% and a net margin of 4.45%.The company had revenue of $14.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. HP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on HP from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on HP from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on HP from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Evercore set a $32.00 price target on HP in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of HP from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $24.17.

HP Company Profile

HP Inc is an American multinational information technology company that designs, manufactures and sells personal computing devices, printers and related supplies and services. Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial notebooks and desktops, workstations, displays and accessories, as well as an extensive line of printing hardware that includes home, office and production printers. HP also provides consumables such as ink and toner, managed print services, device deployment and lifecycle support, and software for device and print management.

Founded from the original Hewlett‑Packard Company, HP Inc became a separately traded public company in 2015 following a corporate split that created Hewlett Packard Enterprise to focus on enterprise hardware and services.