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

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of 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. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 15,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on HPE. Bank of America raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.36.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPE remained flat at $20.89 during midday trading on Thursday. 4,319,169 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,699,440. The stock has a market cap of $27.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.19. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.47 and a 1-year high of $22.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.97. 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 (NYSE:HPE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 6.39%. The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.96%.

Insider Activity at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In related news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was 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 directly owns 7,771 shares in the company, valued at $163,191. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $163,170.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,191. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 426,012 shares of company stock worth $8,599,617. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,869,655,000 after purchasing an additional 5,777,901 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted 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 worth $490,925,000 after purchasing an additional 23,035,594 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,871,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $399,507,000 after acquiring an additional 822,722 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,939,160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $358,602,000 after buying an additional 617,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,483,975 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $200,776,000 after purchasing an additional 237,321 shares in the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.