Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Raymond James currently has $29.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $23.00.

HPE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $21.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of HPE opened at $21.39 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $27.77 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day moving average is $19.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.50. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a fifty-two week low of $14.47 and a fifty-two week high of $22.82. 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 (NYSE:HPE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. Analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is currently 37.14%.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $163,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,191. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total transaction of $5,182,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,508,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,274,127.93. The trade was a 14.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 426,012 shares of company stock valued at $8,599,617. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPE. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 80.3% during the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during 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.