Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $39.00. The stock had previously closed at $32.07, but opened at $33.70. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares last traded at $34.2480, with a volume of 13,425,693 shares.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on HPE. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, CFO Marie Myers sold 93,583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total value of $2,808,425.83. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 204,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,144,667.54. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bethany Mayer sold 6,482 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.10, for a total value of $188,626.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,018 shares in the company, valued at $233,323.80. This trade represents a 44.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 702,402 shares of company stock valued at $18,440,171 in the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investment Research Partners LLC grew its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research Partners LLC now owns 21,925 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.5% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,998 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.0% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 42,532 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.4% in the first quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 18,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 80,769 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,940,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.89 billion, a PE ratio of -174.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.28.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 9th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a positive return on equity of 9.93% and a negative net margin of 0.41%.The business had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.300-2.500 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.510-0.550 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.1425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 24th. This represents a $0.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is -300.00%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Profile

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is an enterprise technology company that designs, develops and sells IT infrastructure, software and services for business and government customers. Its core offerings span servers, storage, networking, and related software, together with consulting, integration and support services aimed at modernizing and managing enterprise IT environments. HPE’s product portfolio includes systems for traditional data centers as well as solutions for high-performance computing, edge computing and telecommunications infrastructure.

A major focus for HPE is hybrid cloud and consumption-based IT.