Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 700 Shares of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC cut its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 788,401 shares of the computer maker’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. HP comprises 1.0% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC owned approximately 0.08% of HP worth $27,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in HP during the fourth quarter valued at about $187,264,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of HP by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,778,246 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $3,649,919,000 after buying an additional 3,062,441 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of HP by 1,472.4% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,264,081 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $68,126,000 after acquiring an additional 2,120,096 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in HP during the second quarter valued at $62,672,000. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in HP by 10,188.2% in the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,777,912 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $53,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,631 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on HPQ shares. Loop Capital decreased their target price on HP from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of HP from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of HP from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of HP from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of HP from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HP news, insider Alex Cho sold 173,137 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total value of $6,251,977.07. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,335,450.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

HP Trading Up 1.4 %

HPQ stock opened at $34.28 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $33.04 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.07. HP Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.22 and a 12 month high of $39.52. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.71.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer maker reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). HP had a net margin of 5.33% and a negative return on equity of 266.37%. The business had revenue of $13.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that HP Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

HP Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a $0.2756 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. HP’s payout ratio is 37.16%.

HP declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the computer maker to purchase up to 28.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About HP

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.