Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Lifted to Buy at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. Argus currently has $26.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on HPE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $20.69.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $20.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.67 and a 200 day moving average of $16.81. The company has a market capitalization of $26.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.18. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a fifty-two week low of $14.47 and a fifty-two week high of $20.43.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 4th. The technology company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 6.38%. The company had revenue of $7.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is currently 37.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 18,323 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.96, for a total transaction of $310,758.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,575.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 18.3% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,006,298 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,691,000 after acquiring an additional 155,717 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,697 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 8,101 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 39.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 55,388 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 15,774 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 455.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 121,204 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,149,000 after buying an additional 99,394 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 1st quarter worth $26,995,000. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

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.