Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on HP (NYSE:HPQ)
by Tristan Rich · The Markets DailyHP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ – Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 47,622 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 55% compared to the typical volume of 30,733 put options.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on HPQ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on HP from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of HP from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays increased their price target on HP from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on HP from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded HP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $23.50.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on HP
Insider Buying and Selling at HP
In related news, insider David P. Mcquarrie sold 21,048 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.98, for a total value of $631,019.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 39,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,186,608.40. This trade represents a 34.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,620 shares of company stock worth $1,478,622. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in HP by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 132,094,388 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $2,943,063,000 after buying an additional 2,435,634 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in HP in the second quarter valued at $2,357,757,000. State Street Corp grew its position in HP by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 52,703,639 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $1,450,245,000 after purchasing an additional 2,651,623 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in HP by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,313,924 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $607,373,000 after buying an additional 274,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in HP by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,236,428 shares of the computer maker’s stock valued at $339,468,000 after acquiring an additional 3,671,511 shares in the last quarter. 77.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
HP Trading Down 3.8%
HPQ stock traded down $1.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $30.11. The stock had a trading volume of 4,638,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,601,857. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.98. The company has a market capitalization of $27.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.17. HP has a 1-year low of $17.56 and a 1-year high of $32.19.
HP (NYSE:HPQ – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The computer maker reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.14. HP had a negative return on equity of 581.36% and a net margin of 4.45%.The business had revenue of $14.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. HP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.610-0.710 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that HP will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.
HP Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. HP’s payout ratio is currently 44.28%.
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.