Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $22.13, but opened at $21.12. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares last traded at $21.21, with a volume of 1,058,399 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on HPE shares. Barclays raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $20.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group increased 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 report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.21.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.70. The company has a market cap of $27.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.67 billion. During the same quarter 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. Equities analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 37.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $163,170.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,191. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,508,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,274,127.93. This trade represents a 14.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 571.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 1,343 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 80.3% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.