HP (NYSE:HPQ) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $32.37 and last traded at $32.3730, with a volume of 6899757 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of HP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of HP from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on HP from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of HP in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of HP in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $25.17.

HP Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $28.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.12.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The computer maker reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.17. HP had a net margin of 4.14% and a negative return on equity of 947.78%. The business had revenue of $15.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. HP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.190-3.290 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.690-0.790 EPS. Analysts expect that HP Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. 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 3.8%. HP’s payout ratio is 45.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at HP

In other news, insider David McQuarrie sold 21,048 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 39,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,186,608.40. This represents a 34.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 52,620 shares of company stock valued at $1,478,622. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. MLG Wealth Management DBA Pine Grove Financial Group bought a new stake in shares of HP in the 2nd quarter valued at about $203,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of HP by 26.3% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 8,157,982 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $178,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,028 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its stake in shares of HP by 4.2% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 249,416 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $5,473,000 after purchasing an additional 10,066 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in HP by 12.0% during the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 154,126 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $3,382,000 after buying an additional 16,455 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in HP by 2,151.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 35,563,906 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $780,272,000 after buying an additional 33,984,527 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About HP

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.