Traders Buy High Volume of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Call Options (NYSE:HPE)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 26,864 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 41% compared to the average daily volume of 19,108 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on HPE. Citigroup upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $26.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $27.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Nine 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.27.

Insider Activity

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 11,577 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total transaction of $266,271.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,615 shares in the company, valued at $1,118,145. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HPE. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,557 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 104,990 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,242,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 13,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 62,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,335,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 54,060 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE HPE opened at $16.56 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.48. The firm has a market cap of $21.75 billion, a PE ratio of 8.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1 year low of $14.64 and a 1 year high of $24.66. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 25.37%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company 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.