Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $28.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $23.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Citigroup raised their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.71.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE HPE opened at $21.63 on Thursday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 12-month low of $14.47 and a 12-month high of $22.82. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total transaction of $493,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 82,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,395,037. This represents a 26.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total transaction of $5,182,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,508,641 shares in the company, valued at $31,274,127.93. This trade represents a 14.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 426,012 shares of company stock worth $8,599,617. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 14,953.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 23,189,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $490,925,000 after purchasing an additional 23,035,594 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,228.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 8,825,249 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $186,831,000 after acquiring an additional 8,560,086 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,537.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,788,154 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $127,571,000 after acquiring an additional 5,629,006 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter worth $105,185,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 336.7% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,269,603 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $90,387,000 after purchasing an additional 3,291,880 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.