Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $26.00 to $28.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Hewlett Packard Enterprise traded as high as $25.58 and last traded at $25.79, with a volume of 175464 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $24.79.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on HPE. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Zacks Research lowered Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.06.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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 value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary M. Reiner sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.58, for a total value of $983,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 83,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,061,500.02. The trade was a 32.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 543,738 shares of company stock worth $12,922,932. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HPE. Elliott Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the second quarter worth approximately $381,004,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1,369.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 15,171,314 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,847.1% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,831,262 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $180,599,000 after purchasing an additional 8,607,523 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings 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 worth $216,754,000 after purchasing an additional 6,974,083 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter worth $110,093,000. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.42. The company has a market capitalization of $32.85 billion, a PE ratio of 30.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 18th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.41%.

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.