Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Stock Price Down 7% After Analyst Downgrade

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE)’s stock price traded down 7% during trading on Thursday after Barclays downgraded the stock from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating. Barclays now has a $77.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $83.00. Hewlett Packard Enterprise traded as low as $56.64 and last traded at $58.7110. 34,750,669 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 63% from the average daily volume of 21,356,480 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.11.

HPE has been the topic of several other research reports. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $74.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $57.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Rami Rahim sold 34,456 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.42, for a total transaction of $2,116,287.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 875,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,750,668.86. This represents a 3.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Reiner sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.91, for a total value of $967,470.00. Following the sale, the director owned 65,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,703,247.52. This represents a 20.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 551,456 shares of company stock valued at $35,271,258. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Here are the key news stories impacting Hewlett Packard Enterprise this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HPE plans to invest $75 million to expand its Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, operations and add approximately 75 jobs. The expansion supports the company’s data-center and technology infrastructure business, although its direct effect on near-term earnings is likely limited. Hewlett Packard Enterprise to spend $75M to expand, add 75 jobs in Chippewa Falls
• Positive Sentiment: Daiwa upgraded HPE to Outperform, providing a counterpoint to the more cautious analyst actions and signaling that some investors still see upside in the company’s growth and infrastructure strategy. Daiwa upgrades Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock to Outperform
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage highlights HPE’s strong fundamentals, including record quarterly revenue, orders and backlog, with demand spanning traditional servers, AI systems and networking. The company also previously announced a $1.2 billion AI order from Vultr, but investors are now focused on whether that demand will accelerate enough to justify the stock’s elevated valuation. What Changed For HPE Stock, And What Did Not?
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays downgraded HPE from Overweight to Equal Weight and reduced its price target from $83 to $77. The firm cited elevated valuation and a lack of a meaningful AI growth inflection, raising concerns that enterprise IT spending may not meet optimistic expectations. Dell, HPE and NetApp Stocks Slump After Downgrades on Worries About AI Spending
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore also moved HPE to In Line with a $65 price target, adding to the broader analyst caution after the stock’s sharp run-up. Evercore cuts Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock to In Line

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Foster Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 5,341 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,727 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,782 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management grew its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 208.6% during the 3rd quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 466 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 7,180 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.02. The firm has a market cap of $77.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The technology company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $12.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.97 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.200-1.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.1425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is currently 29.69%.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) is a global technology company that provides information technology products, services and solutions for businesses, governments and other organizations. Its offerings are designed to help customers build, manage and secure data center, cloud and edge-computing environments.

HPE’s portfolio includes enterprise servers, high-performance computing systems, data storage, networking equipment, software and technology consulting services. The company also provides hybrid cloud and as-a-service solutions through HPE GreenLake, allowing customers to access and manage computing, storage, data protection and other IT capabilities through a flexible consumption model.