Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Short Interest Up 7.3% in April

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,790,000 shares, a growth of 7.3% from the March 31st total of 27,770,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 14,980,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of HPE opened at $16.44 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $21.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $17.15 and its 200-day moving average is $16.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 12 month low of $13.65 and a 12 month high of $20.07.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The firm had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 35.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays decreased 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 report on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 18,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.96, for a total transaction of $310,758.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,575.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,384,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 4th quarter valued at $48,291,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 276.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,302,065 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,987,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691,083 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 70.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,550,595 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 261.6% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 2,015,451 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458,034 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.