Insider Selling: HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) Insider Sells $418,757.53 in Stock

HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE:HSBC) insider Daniel Scott Palomaki sold 23,123 shares of HSBC stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.11, for a total transaction of $418,757.53. Following the sale, the insider owned 4,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,061.03. This trade represents a 82.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

HSBC Price Performance

Shares of HSBC stock opened at $90.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.51. HSBC Holdings plc has a twelve month low of $57.85 and a twelve month high of $94.79. The firm has a market cap of $311.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.56.

HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter. HSBC had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The business had revenue of $19.13 billion for the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that HSBC Holdings plc will post 8.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HSBC Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. HSBC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in HSBC by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,800,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,400,385,000 after purchasing an additional 402,288 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in HSBC by 1.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,575,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,659,000 after purchasing an additional 185,073 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in HSBC by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,483,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,757,000 after purchasing an additional 993,473 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in HSBC by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,045,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,144,000 after purchasing an additional 136,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in HSBC by 77.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,443,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,577,000 after purchasing an additional 627,857 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of HSBC in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Zacks Research downgraded shares of HSBC from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of HSBC in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of HSBC from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of HSBC from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HSBC presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.00.

About HSBC

HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HSBC) is a multinational banking and financial services organization headquartered in London. It traces its origins to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, founded in 1865 to facilitate trade between Europe and Asia, and has since grown into one of the world’s largest banking groups. The company is publicly listed in multiple markets, including the London Stock Exchange, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and as an American depositary receipt on the New York Stock Exchange.

HSBC operates a universal banking model, serving retail, commercial, corporate and institutional clients.