Capital Investment Counsel Inc Increases Holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) by 91.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,269 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,800 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.8% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 639,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,114,000 after acquiring an additional 4,966 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.9% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 330,934 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,748,000 after purchasing an additional 15,345 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 31.0% in the third quarter. Lake Street Financial LLC now owns 15,783 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 3,735 shares during the last quarter. Capital Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the third quarter worth $195,000. Finally, PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 7.0% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 12,781 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Shares of HPE stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $17.19. The company had a trading volume of 746,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,704,262. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.04 and a 200-day moving average of $16.40. The company has a market capitalization of $22.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.21. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 12-month low of $13.65 and a 12-month high of $20.07.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.09 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 6.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 18,323 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.96, for a total value of $310,758.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,541 shares in the company, valued at $263,575.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.91.

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.