HP (NYSE:HPQ) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on HPQ. Barclays lowered their price objective on HP from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Evercore set a $22.00 price objective on HP in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of HP in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on HP from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of HP in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $21.58.

HP Stock Performance

Shares of HPQ traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $18.79. 2,275,793 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,440,002. HP has a 12-month low of $17.56 and a 12-month high of $29.55. The company has a market cap of $17.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.63.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The computer maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.87 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 367.41% and a net margin of 4.46%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. HP has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.700-0.760 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that HP will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. HP’s dividend payout ratio is 45.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in HP during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Garner Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in HP during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in HP during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management acquired a new position in HP during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.53% of the company’s stock.

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.