Morgan Stanley Lowers Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Price Target to $24.00

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on HPE. Raymond James upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $17.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.21.

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 11.9 %

NYSE HPE traded down $2.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $15.82. The stock had a trading volume of 81,923,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,855,802. The company has a market capitalization of $20.77 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20. The company's 50-day moving average price is $21.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.29. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 12 month low of $14.93 and a 12 month high of $24.66.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.37%.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, Director Gary M. Reiner sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 directly owns 104,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,445,386.24. This trade represents a 32.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 11,577 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total value of $266,271.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,118,145. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 324,395 shares of company stock valued at $7,121,896. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPE. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,173,982 shares of the technology company's stock worth $686,011,000 after acquiring an additional 681,242 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 27,383,858 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $560,274,000 after purchasing an additional 4,194,213 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,184,240 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $345,534,000 after purchasing an additional 3,208,424 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 15,696,449 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $321,149,000 after purchasing an additional 921,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter valued at about $292,959,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.