Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 68,892 Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) by 4.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,561,022 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 68,892 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise worth $31,939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 14,953.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 23,189,645 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $490,925,000 after purchasing an additional 23,035,594 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,228.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 8,825,249 shares of the technology company's stock worth $186,831,000 after purchasing an additional 8,560,086 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,853,093 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,869,655,000 after acquiring an additional 5,777,901 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 336.7% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,269,603 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $90,387,000 after acquiring an additional 3,291,880 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the first quarter valued at approximately $51,938,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $21.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.46.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock traded down $0.29 on Tuesday, hitting $21.73. 8,189,867 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,352,561. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $19.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 12-month low of $14.47 and a 12-month high of $22.82. The company has a market cap of $28.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.19.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $163,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $163,191. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $163,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $163,191. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total transaction of $5,182,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,508,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,274,127.93. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 426,012 shares of company stock worth $8,599,617. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Profile

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.