Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 37,710,000 shares, a decline of 5.8% from the September 15th total of 40,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 15,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company's shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total transaction of $493,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 82,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,395,037. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total transaction of $493,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 82,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,395,037. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total transaction of $1,643,346.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,758,641 shares in the company, valued at $34,680,400.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 176,012 shares of company stock valued at $3,417,117. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 14,953.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 23,189,645 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $490,925,000 after buying an additional 23,035,594 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,228.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 8,825,249 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $186,831,000 after buying an additional 8,560,086 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,853,093 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,869,655,000 after buying an additional 5,777,901 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 336.7% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,269,603 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $90,387,000 after buying an additional 3,291,880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 1st quarter valued at about $51,938,000. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of HPE traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.89. The stock had a trading volume of 13,597,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,758,102. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1 year low of $14.47 and a 1 year high of $22.82. The firm has a market cap of $27.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock's 50 day moving average is $18.89 and its 200 day moving average is $18.95.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The firm's revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 19th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's payout ratio is 37.96%.

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.