StockNews.com Upgrades Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) to Strong-Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on HPE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.79.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

HPE stock opened at $21.91 on Monday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.47 and a 1-year high of $24.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $28.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.98.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is 27.37%.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $163,170.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,191. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 82,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,395,037. This trade represents a 26.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 483,783 shares of company stock worth $9,951,850 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPE. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,492,740 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $642,748,000 after purchasing an additional 251,076 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 18.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 27,383,858 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $560,274,000 after purchasing an additional 4,194,213 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,871,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $399,507,000 after buying an additional 822,722 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,939,160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $358,602,000 after buying an additional 617,691 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 15,696,449 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $321,149,000 after buying an additional 921,624 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.