Simplicity Solutions LLC Grows Position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) by 72.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 37,292 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,683 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aspire Private Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 169.2% in the fourth quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,423,320,000 after buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 180.1% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,961 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Manhattan Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 89.4% in the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 2,413 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.91.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $17.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.89. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 52-week low of $13.65 and a 52-week high of $20.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $16.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.41.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The firm had revenue of $6.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 35.86%.

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.