Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Price Target Raised to $23.00 at Citigroup

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) had its price target lifted by Citigroup from $20.00 to $23.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Raymond James upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.21.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

NYSE:HPE opened at $21.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.94. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a fifty-two week low of $14.47 and a fifty-two week high of $22.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.56. The company has a market capitalization of $28.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The company had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $163,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,191. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total transaction of $5,182,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,508,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,274,127.93. This represents a 14.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 426,012 shares of company stock valued at $8,599,617 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HPE. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 14,953.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 23,189,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $490,925,000 after buying an additional 23,035,594 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,228.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 8,825,249 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $186,831,000 after acquiring an additional 8,560,086 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,537.0% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,788,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $127,571,000 after acquiring an additional 5,629,006 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at about $105,185,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 336.7% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,269,603 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $90,387,000 after purchasing an additional 3,291,880 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Profile

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.