HP (NYSE:HPQ) Sets New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $22.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. HP traded as low as $19.58 and last traded at $19.7890, with a volume of 19617236 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $20.37.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on HPQ. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on HP from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of HP from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of HP in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group set a $24.00 target price on HP in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, HSBC set a $30.00 price objective on HP and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.77.

Insider Activity at HP

In other news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 16,726 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.83, for a total transaction of $415,306.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,196.27. This trade represents a 99.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 41,922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.00, for a total transaction of $1,089,972.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,677,856. This trade represents a 22.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 110,123 shares of company stock worth $2,784,126 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPQ. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in HP by 36.0% in the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 286,760 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $7,013,000 after acquiring an additional 75,895 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd grew its holdings in shares of HP by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 1,600,015 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $43,568,000 after purchasing an additional 92,400 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA acquired a new position in HP during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,279,000. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,573,000. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in HP by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 5,871,898 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $159,892,000 after purchasing an additional 116,279 shares during the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HP Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.49. The stock has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.21.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The computer maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $14.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.50 billion. HP had a net margin of 4.57% and a negative return on equity of 330.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. HP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.200 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.730-0.810 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 11th. HP’s payout ratio is currently 45.28%.

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.