Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Raised to “Buy” at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $26.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $23.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on HPE. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Raymond James raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $23.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.36.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 10.6 %

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $23.96 on Friday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.47 and a 1-year high of $24.24. The company has a market capitalization of $31.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.21. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $20.83 and a 200-day moving average of $19.85.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 6.39%. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 20th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,191. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total transaction of $1,643,346.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,758,641 shares in the company, valued at $34,680,400.52. This trade represents a 4.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPE. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 571.5% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 1,343 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 80.3% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 637 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.