Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $17.91.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Down 1.5 %

Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $16.79 on Friday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a one year low of $13.65 and a one year high of $20.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $21.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.41.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.09 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 9.12%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPE. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,241 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 9,391 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 23,822 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the period. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,950 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Finally, IMPACTfolio LLC grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. IMPACTfolio LLC now owns 13,963 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is 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.