Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.91.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 18,323 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.96, for a total value of $310,758.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,541 shares in the company, valued at $263,575.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,733,959 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $301,151,000 after buying an additional 695,038 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,879,051 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $275,819,000 after acquiring an additional 634,727 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,831,872 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $257,630,000 after acquiring an additional 913,014 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,518,564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $252,187,000 after purchasing an additional 880,271 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,395,647 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $250,052,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309,878 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

NYSE:HPE opened at $17.17 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.08 and a 200-day moving average of $16.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.21. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 52 week low of $13.65 and a 52 week high of $20.07.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 6.81%. The business had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.