Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital raised their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $21.82 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $28.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.21. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a twelve month low of $14.47 and a twelve month high of $24.24.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total value of $5,182,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,508,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,274,127.93. The trade was a 14.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gary M. Reiner sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total value of $1,173,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 104,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,445,386.24. The trade was a 32.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 578,359 shares of company stock valued at $12,380,028 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.9% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 168,995 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,578,000 after purchasing an additional 6,390 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 5.6% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 86,552 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,832,000 after buying an additional 4,581 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.5% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 111,617 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,363,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 914.3% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,544 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 4,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 8.4% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 984,484 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,842,000 after acquiring an additional 76,544 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company provides solutions that allow customers to capture, analyze, and act upon data seamlessly in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. It operates in six segments: Compute, HPC & AI, Storage, Intelligent Edge, Financial Services, and Corporate Investments and Other.