HP (NYSE:HPQ) Shares Up 12.7% – Still a Buy?

HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)’s share price shot up 12.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $24.38 and last traded at $24.6870. 9,823,175 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 18,372,408 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on HPQ. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on HP from $25.00 to $18.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of HP in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Evercore set a $22.00 price target on HP in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of HP in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded HP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $21.67.

HP Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $23.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61, a P/E/G ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.15.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The computer maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.04. HP had a net margin of 4.46% and a negative return on equity of 367.41%. The firm had revenue of $14.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. HP has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.700-0.760 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that HP Inc. will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HPQ. Garner Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new stake in HP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in HP by 97.0% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HP in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.