Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 11,474 Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,549,548 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,474 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $33,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on HPE. Barclays boosted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $23.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.00.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 2.6 %

HPE stock opened at $21.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.47 and a 1-year high of $24.66. The stock has a market cap of $27.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.19.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total value of $178,733.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 61,735 shares in the company, valued at $1,419,905. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary M. Reiner sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total value of $1,173,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 104,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,445,386.24. The trade was a 32.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 332,166 shares of company stock valued at $7,300,629. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise 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.