Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $22.13, but opened at $21.12. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares last traded at $21.21, with a volume of 1,058,399 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on HPE shares. Barclays upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Raymond James raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $23.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.21.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Down 6.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 37.14%.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 82,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,395,037. This trade represents a 26.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,758,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,680,400.52. This trade represents a 4.52 % 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 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HPE. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 14,953.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 23,189,645 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $490,925,000 after purchasing an additional 23,035,594 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,228.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 8,825,249 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $186,831,000 after buying an additional 8,560,086 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,537.0% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,788,154 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $127,571,000 after buying an additional 5,629,006 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at $105,185,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 336.7% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,269,603 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $90,387,000 after acquiring an additional 3,291,880 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

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.