5 HP Execs Sell-Off $12.3 Million Worth of Stock

[Anonymous]

 5 HP Execs Sell-Off  $12.3 Million Worth of Stock
The transactions follow the computing giant’s announcement that it will split in two.
By Grace L. Williams

Was it a calculated move?
(Tonernews Say YES)

Five Hewlett-Packard executive vice presidents sold 357,836 shares for $12,342,820, an average of $34.49 each, from Oct. 6 through 17. The transactions included planned 10b5-1 sales, open-market sales, and options exercises that followed HP’s announcement it was going to split into two companies.

Henry Gomez, chief marketing and communications officer, exercised options and sold his entire direct stake of 70,250 HP (ticker: HPQ ) shares for $2,600,655 through 10b5-1 planned sales. Regulatory filings show the options were exercised at $21.30 each and were set to expire Sept. 26, 2021. Gomez’s most recent previous transaction was on Aug. 22, when he exercised options and sold 14,600 shares for $540,100, an average of $37 each, also through a planned sale.

George Kadifa, executive vice president of Strategic Relationships, exercised options and sold 169,137 shares for $5,719,812. This marked his first transaction as an HP insider. He now holds 913 shares directly. The options were exercised at $22.80 each and were set to expire on May 29, 2020, at the earliest.

William Veghte, general manager of HP’s Enterprise Group, sold 50,000 shares for $1,694,100. He now directly holds 114,355 shares. His most recent previous transaction was on Dec. 4, 2012, when he bought 23,000 shares for $298,900, an average of $12.99 each.

Martin Fink, chief technology officer, director of HP Labs and general manager of HP’s Network Function Virtualization Group, exercised options and sold 47,694 shares in his first open-market transaction for $1,623,346. The options were exercised at prices ranging from $21.30 to $28.41 and were set to expire on Sept. 27, 2019, at the earliest.

Robert Youngjohns, general manager of HP Software and member of HP’s Executive Council, sold 20,755 shares for $704,906. This was his first open-market transaction.

All five own stakes of less than 1% in HP.

Gomez joined HP in 2011 and is a former eBay ( EBAY ) executive. Kadifa was formerly executive vice president of HP Software. Veghte most recently served as chief operating officer of HP before his current post. Fink has been with the company since 1985. Youngjohns is a former Microsoft ( MSFT ) executive.

A spokeswoman for HP was not immediately available to comment on the sales.

On Oct. 6, the company said it would separate its PC and printing operations from corporate hardware and services operations by the end of fiscal 2015.

Last week, HP resumed a share-buyback program and noted that “our share price does not reflect HP’s intrinsic value.” Nonetheless the stock has made substantial gains in 2014.

HP shares closed at $34.49 on Wednesday, a dividend-adjusted gain of 25% for the calendar-year-to-date.

A day after HP announced the split, Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom lifted the fair-value estimate to $34 from $29.

“Over the next 12-15 months we expect further rationalizing and efficiency gains across all segments, but we anticipate that the bulk of the incremental benefit will be reinvested in the business (which is a good long-term plan),” Wahlstrom wrote in a research report. “We are changing our narrow economic moat rating or negative moat trend at this time, but it’s something we will continue to monitor.” He rates HP three stars out of five.

 5 HP Execs Sell-Off  $12.3 Million Worth of Stock
The transactions follow the computing giant’s announcement that it will split in two.
By Grace L. Williams

Was it a calculated move?
(Tonernews Say YES)

Five Hewlett-Packard executive vice presidents sold 357,836 shares for $12,342,820, an average of $34.49 each, from Oct. 6 through 17. The transactions included planned 10b5-1 sales, open-market sales, and options exercises that followed HP’s announcement it was going to split into two companies.

Henry Gomez, chief marketing and communications officer, exercised options and sold his entire direct stake of 70,250 HP (ticker: HPQ ) shares for $2,600,655 through 10b5-1 planned sales. Regulatory filings show the options were exercised at $21.30 each and were set to expire Sept. 26, 2021. Gomez’s most recent previous transaction was on Aug. 22, when he exercised options and sold 14,600 shares for $540,100, an average of $37 each, also through a planned sale.

George Kadifa, executive vice president of Strategic Relationships, exercised options and sold 169,137 shares for $5,719,812. This marked his first transaction as an HP insider. He now holds 913 shares directly. The options were exercised at $22.80 each and were set to expire on May 29, 2020, at the earliest.

William Veghte, general manager of HP’s Enterprise Group, sold 50,000 shares for $1,694,100. He now directly holds 114,355 shares. His most recent previous transaction was on Dec. 4, 2012, when he bought 23,000 shares for $298,900, an average of $12.99 each.

Martin Fink, chief technology officer, director of HP Labs and general manager of HP’s Network Function Virtualization Group, exercised options and sold 47,694 shares in his first open-market transaction for $1,623,346. The options were exercised at prices ranging from $21.30 to $28.41 and were set to expire on Sept. 27, 2019, at the earliest.

Robert Youngjohns, general manager of HP Software and member of HP’s Executive Council, sold 20,755 shares for $704,906. This was his first open-market transaction.

All five own stakes of less than 1% in HP.

Gomez joined HP in 2011 and is a former eBay ( EBAY ) executive. Kadifa was formerly executive vice president of HP Software. Veghte most recently served as chief operating officer of HP before his current post. Fink has been with the company since 1985. Youngjohns is a former Microsoft ( MSFT ) executive.

A spokeswoman for HP was not immediately available to comment on the sales.

On Oct. 6, the company said it would separate its PC and printing operations from corporate hardware and services operations by the end of fiscal 2015.

Last week, HP resumed a share-buyback program and noted that “our share price does not reflect HP’s intrinsic value.” Nonetheless the stock has made substantial gains in 2014.

HP shares closed at $34.49 on Wednesday, a dividend-adjusted gain of 25% for the calendar-year-to-date.

A day after HP announced the split, Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom lifted the fair-value estimate to $34 from $29.

“Over the next 12-15 months we expect further rationalizing and efficiency gains across all segments, but we anticipate that the bulk of the incremental benefit will be reinvested in the business (which is a good long-term plan),” Wahlstrom wrote in a research report. “We are changing our narrow economic moat rating or negative moat trend at this time, but it’s something we will continue to monitor.” He rates HP three stars out of five.

[Author]

October 23, 2014 at 12:42 PM