Citigroup Begins Coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Citigroup started coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.93% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on HPE. UBS Group upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Argus upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.00.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $18.88 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.63. The company has a market capitalization of $24.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 52 week low of $14.47 and a 52 week high of $22.82.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 6.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total value of $493,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,395,037. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 253.9% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 571.5% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 1,343 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, American National Bank boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 89.4% during the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,949 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. 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.