Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.21.

HPE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

HPE opened at $22.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $28.69 billion, a PE ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.19. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1 year low of $14.47 and a 1 year high of $22.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.60.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 37.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total transaction of $1,643,346.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,758,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,680,400.52. This trade represents a 4.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total transaction of $493,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,395,037. This trade represents a 26.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 426,012 shares of company stock worth $8,599,617 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 3rd quarter worth $861,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 67.8% in the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 90,826 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,858,000 after acquiring an additional 36,704 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 17.3% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,202,752 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $65,528,000 after acquiring an additional 472,885 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 455.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 121,204 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 99,394 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1,846.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 489,092 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $100,070,000 after purchasing an additional 463,965 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

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.