Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Stock Price Down 8.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) shares were down 8.1% during trading on Wednesday after Barclays downgraded the stock from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating. Barclays now has a $77.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $83.00. Hewlett Packard Enterprise traded as low as $62.62 and last traded at $63.2170. Approximately 24,897,691 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 17% from the average session volume of 21,291,537 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.81.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on HPE. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $76.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, CEO Antonio Neri sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.31, for a total value of $17,077,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,182,393 shares in the company, valued at $80,769,265.83. This represents a 17.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Rami Rahim sold 34,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.42, for a total transaction of $2,116,287.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 875,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,750,668.86. The trade was a 3.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 551,456 shares of company stock worth $35,271,258 in the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Hewlett Packard Enterprise News

Here are the key news stories impacting Hewlett Packard Enterprise this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Daiwa upgraded HPE to Outperform, providing a counterpoint to the recent downgrade activity. Daiwa upgrades Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock to Outperform
• Positive Sentiment: HPE’s Juniper acquisition is showing signs of strengthening the networking business, while the company continues to benefit from demand tied to AI infrastructure, cloud and networking. Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Fears Mount For Bears As Juniper Acquisition Shows Strength
• Positive Sentiment: HPE remains near its 52-week high after strong momentum, improved sales growth and raised fiscal 2026 and 2027 outlooks. The company also announced a $1.2 billion AI order from cloud provider Vultr and increased its long-term networking growth forecast. What Changed For HPE Stock, And What Did Not?
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts continue to identify HPE as a stock with additional upside after its strong run, although this reflects momentum rather than a new company-specific announcement. 4 Stocks Trading Near 52-Week High With Room to Rise Further
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays downgraded HPE from Overweight to Equal Weight and lowered its price target from $83 to $77, citing elevated valuations and a lack of meaningful AI-driven growth. The downgrade also affected Dell and NetApp, pressuring the broader IT hardware group. Why are Dell and HPE stocks plunging today?
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore previously cut HPE to In Line with a $65 target, arguing that the rally had made the shares expensive and left limited room for further valuation expansion. How Evercore’s Valuation-Driven Downgrade At Hewlett Packard Enterprise Has Changed Its Investment Story

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,027,139,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 2nd quarter valued at about $773,225,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 2nd quarter valued at about $512,721,000. Elliott Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 47.2% in the 1st quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 27,421,735 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $652,912,000 after acquiring an additional 8,790,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter valued at about $322,718,000. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Down 8.1%

The stock has a market cap of $83.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.75.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The technology company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.18. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 6.60%. The company had revenue of $12.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s revenue was up 33.7% on a year-over-year basis. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.200-1.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th will be given a $0.1425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is presently 29.69%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Profile

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) is a global technology company that provides information technology products, services and solutions for businesses, governments and other organizations. Its offerings are designed to help customers build, manage and secure data center, cloud and edge-computing environments.

HPE’s portfolio includes enterprise servers, high-performance computing systems, data storage, networking equipment, software and technology consulting services. The company also provides hybrid cloud and as-a-service solutions through HPE GreenLake, allowing customers to access and manage computing, storage, data protection and other IT capabilities through a flexible consumption model.