Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $14.00 to $22.00. The stock had previously closed at $17.46, but opened at $18.02. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares last traded at $17.81, with a volume of 1,186,771 shares.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Daiwa America lowered shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $26.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 6,409 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.19, for a total value of $84,534.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 13,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 62,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 54,060 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 23,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $15.76 and its 200 day moving average is $19.35. The stock has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.29.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 21st. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is currently 25.37%.

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.