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Technology Stocks : HWP -- Hewlett Packard -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: William Partmann who wrote (3078)	6/15/1999 8:09:00 AM
From: Xpiderman	Respond to of 4722

HP insiders selling off big chunks of stock ! BY SCOTT HERHOLD Mercury News Staff Writer Since Hewlett-Packard Co. announced last March that it would split into two, insiders have increased their pace of stock selling dramatically, unloading more shares than they have in any similar period since 1995. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation -- two of the company's biggest stockholders -- accounted for slightly more half of the 5.26 million shares sold by insiders since the announcement on March 2. IRS regulations virtually force the two to divest stock. But outgoing CEO Lewis Platt, who says he will step down when a new executive is found for HP's computing and imaging operation, has sold, or announced he will sell, 224,660 shares in the last three months. SEC records indicate he will retain 179,832 shares. As HP's stock has revived this year -- it finished Monday at $85.88, down $2.50 -- the selling has accelerated. Since the stock reached a high of $97.56 on May 18, insiders have sold a total of 3.1 million shares, including 2 million shares sold by the Packard Foundation. The largest total of insider shares sold in any previous period during the last three years was 303,959 in the last quarter of 1997. Because of the impending split of the company, no insider sales occurred in the first two months of 1999. ''We encourage our executives to trade after we announce earnings,'' said an HP spokeswoman, Marlene Somsak. ''Clearly, when you take a look at the number of shares sold versus those retained, our top executives remain very confident in the company.'' The Packard Foundation was by far the largest seller, unloading the 2 million shares at a price of $94.02 per share on May 19. That transaction was worth $188 million. The chief financial officer for the Packard Foundation, George Vera, pointed out that foundations are required by the IRS to distribute 5 percent of their assets each year. Because about 90 percent of the Packard Foundation's wealth consists of HP stock, Vera said, the foundation must sell to fund current grants. That demand increased last year as the stock from the estate of founder David Packard, who died in 1996, went to the foundation. ''These sales are totally determined by our cash needs,'' Vera said. ''One could reasonably anticipate that we would be sellers in each quarter.'' Among the other recent sellers are Edward W. Barnholt, vice-president of HP's measurement device business, who announced his intent to sell 54,000 shares; Susan Packard Orr, who has filed to sell 54,400 shares; and fellow HP board member David Woodley Packard, who filed to sell 100,000 shares. Barnholt will become the CEO of the measurement unit when it is spun off. In addition, Robert P. Wayman, the company's chief financial officer, filed on June 1 to sell 35,000 shares. Wayman sold 50,000 shares last March.