Hewlett Packard Enterprise Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:HPE)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 15,973 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 6% compared to the average volume of 15,032 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HPE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total value 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 4.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was 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 $1,395,037. The trade was a 26.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 426,012 shares of company stock worth $8,599,617. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 14,953.2% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,228.2% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,537.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,788,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $127,571,000 after buying an additional 5,629,006 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at about $105,185,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 3,291,880 shares in the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPE traded down $1.33 during trading on Thursday, reaching $20.80. The stock had a trading volume of 16,174,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,186,517. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.71. 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 52 week low of $14.47 and a 52 week high of $22.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.19.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.14%.

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.