Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

HPE has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $17.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $17.91.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPE opened at $17.17 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $17.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $22.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.21. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 52-week low of $13.65 and a 52-week high of $20.07.

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

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 18,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.96, for a total transaction of $310,758.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,575.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HPE. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 253.9% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter worth $33,000. American National Bank grew its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 89.4% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,949 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 180.1% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,961 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. 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.