Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on HPE. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.81.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $24.92 on Monday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $11.97 and a 1-year high of $25.36. The company has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a PE ratio of 30.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.60 and a 200-day moving average of $19.16.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 18th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 18th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 166,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.03, for a total transaction of $4,171,649.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,585,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,690,721.78. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Maeve C. Culloty sold 3,738 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.12, for a total value of $93,898.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 543,738 shares of company stock worth $12,922,932 over the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Elliott Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the second quarter valued at $381,004,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1,369.1% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 16,279,442 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,192,000 after acquiring an additional 15,171,314 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,847.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,831,262 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $180,599,000 after purchasing an additional 8,607,523 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 192.4% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 10,599,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $216,754,000 after purchasing an additional 6,974,083 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 2nd quarter worth about $110,093,000. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.