Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on HPE. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their target price for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $17.91.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Up 0.3 %

HPE opened at $16.84 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.40. The company has a market cap of $21.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.89. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a one year low of $13.65 and a one year high of $20.07.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.86%.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPE. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 4th quarter worth about $51,384,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter valued at $48,291,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 276.8% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,302,065 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,987,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691,083 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 70.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,550,595 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,464,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS grew its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 261.6% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 2,015,451 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458,034 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

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.