Barclays Upgrades Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) to “Overweight”

Barclays upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $24.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $20.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on HPE. Bank of America upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a neutral rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $21.31.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPE opened at $20.15 on Wednesday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a one year low of $14.47 and a one year high of $22.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $26.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.65.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $7.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 82,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,395,037. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total value of $1,643,346.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,758,641 shares in the company, valued at $34,680,400.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total value of $493,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,395,037. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,853,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,869,655,000 after purchasing an additional 5,777,901 shares during the period. 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 worth $490,925,000 after buying an additional 23,035,594 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,871,236 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $399,507,000 after buying an additional 822,722 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,939,160 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $358,602,000 after buying an additional 617,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,483,975 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $200,776,000 after acquiring an additional 237,321 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

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.