Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.79.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on HPE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total value of $5,182,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,508,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,274,127.93. This trade represents a 14.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,191. This represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 433,783 shares of company stock valued at $8,778,350 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,492,740 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $642,748,000 after acquiring an additional 251,076 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 18.1% during the 3rd 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 increased its position in 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 valued at $399,507,000 after purchasing an additional 822,722 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 617,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 921,624 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 5.1 %

Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $21.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.21. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a twelve month low of $14.47 and a twelve month high of $24.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.96 and a 200-day moving average of $19.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be given 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 dividend yield of 2.37%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 27.37%.

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.