Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $19.87, but opened at $20.95. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares last traded at $20.25, with a volume of 2,020,767 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HPE shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup started coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.46.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 4.2 %

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 capitalization of $25.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.11.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is currently 37.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In related news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,395,037. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total transaction of $5,182,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,508,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,274,127.93. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 426,012 shares of company stock valued at $8,599,617. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 67.8% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 90,826 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,858,000 after acquiring an additional 36,704 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 12.3% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,723,120 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $84,166,000 after purchasing an additional 517,734 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,322,885 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $23,455,000 after purchasing an additional 475,397 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,855,377 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,356,000 after buying an additional 196,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 455.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 121,204 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after buying an additional 99,394 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.