Morgan Stanley Cuts HP (NYSE:HPQ) Price Target to $20.00

HP (NYSE:HPQ) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $21.00 to $20.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the computer maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on HPQ. HSBC set a $30.00 target price on shares of HP and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of HP from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of HP from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on HP in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of HP from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, HP has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.69.

HP Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE HPQ opened at $24.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $22.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.33. HP has a 52 week low of $21.21 and a 52 week high of $36.93.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The computer maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. HP had a net margin of 4.83% and a negative return on equity of 262.03%. The business had revenue of $14.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. HP has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.200 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.730-0.810 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. This is a positive change from HP’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. HP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anneliese Olson sold 18,154 shares of HP stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.88, for a total value of $506,133.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,711.72. The trade was a 99.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Enrique Lores sold 34,282 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.85, for a total transaction of $920,471.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80.55. This represents a 99.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of HP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HP during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in HP by 2,346.5% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the computer maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,009 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of HP in the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in HP in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.