Morgan Stanley Cuts Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Price Target to $24.00

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 58.34% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on HPE. Raymond James raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $27.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.21.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 15.6 %

Shares of NYSE:HPE traded down $2.80 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.16. 50,573,353 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,822,730. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.09 and a 1-year high of $24.66. The firm has a market cap of $19.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.73.

Insider Activity at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, EVP John F. Schultz sold 262,818 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.62, for a total transaction of $5,682,125.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 270,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,846,696.60. This represents a 49.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary M. Reiner sold 50,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total value of $1,173,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 104,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,445,386.24. This represents a 32.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 324,395 shares of company stock worth $7,121,896. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HPE. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,173,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,011,000 after acquiring an additional 681,242 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 18.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 27,383,858 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $560,274,000 after purchasing an additional 4,194,213 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,184,240 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $345,534,000 after acquiring an additional 3,208,424 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 15,696,449 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $321,149,000 after acquiring an additional 921,624 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at $292,959,000. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.