Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Lowered to "Buy" Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Susquehanna restated a "neutral" rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $26.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Raymond James raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

NYSE:HPE traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $21.27. The company had a trading volume of 10,204,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,869,325. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.47 and a 1-year high of $24.66. The business's 50 day moving average price is $22.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.46. The firm has a market cap of $27.97 billion, a PE ratio of 11.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.19.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 20th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,771 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total transaction of $178,733.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 61,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,419,905. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary M. Reiner sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total transaction of $1,173,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 104,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,445,386.24. The trade was a 32.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 332,166 shares of company stock valued at $7,300,629 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 80.3% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Finally, Tandem Financial LLC acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.78% of the company's stock.

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.