Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 4,194,213 Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) by 18.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,383,858 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,194,213 shares during the period. Hewlett Packard Enterprise makes up approximately 1.2% of Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $560,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 3rd quarter valued at $861,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 67.8% during the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 90,826 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,858,000 after purchasing an additional 36,704 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 17.3% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,202,752 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $65,528,000 after purchasing an additional 472,885 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 455.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 121,204 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 99,394 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1,846.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 489,092 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $100,070,000 after buying an additional 463,965 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on HPE. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Loop Capital increased their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.21.

Insider Activity at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,758,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,680,400.52. This represents a 4.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 82,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,395,037. This trade represents a 26.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 426,012 shares of company stock valued at $8,599,617 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Shares of HPE opened at $21.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $27.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.19. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 52-week low of $14.47 and a 52-week high of $22.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.55.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.14%.

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.