Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays downgraded HPE from “overweight” to “equal weight”, while maintaining a $77 price target—implying approximately 12% upside from the reported share price.
• Despite the downgrade, analyst sentiment remains positive overall, with HPE carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $65.44.
• HPE reported quarterly EPS of $1.11 versus the $0.93 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $12.21 billion and increased 33.7% year over year; insiders have sold 551,456 shares worth about $35.3 million over the past 90 days.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Barclays from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $77.00 price objective on the technology company's stock. Barclays's price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.06% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on HPE. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $57.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, August 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $74.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.44.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of HPE stock opened at $68.72 on Wednesday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a fifty-two week low of $19.84 and a fifty-two week high of $73.56. The stock's 50-day moving average is $58.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $91.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.39.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The technology company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $12.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.97 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 6.60%. The firm's revenue was up 33.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.200-1.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, EVP Rami Rahim sold 34,456 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.42, for a total transaction of $2,116,287.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 875,133 shares of the company's stock, valued at $53,750,668.86. This represents a 3.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Reiner sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.91, for a total value of $967,470.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 65,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,703,247.52. This trade represents a 20.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 551,456 shares of company stock valued at $35,271,258. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Foster Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 5,341 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.4% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,727 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.9% during the second quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,782 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 5.2% during the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 7,180 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.5% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,998 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Profile

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company NYSE: HPE is a global technology company that provides information technology products, services and solutions for businesses, governments and other organizations. Its offerings are designed to help customers build, manage and secure data center, cloud and edge-computing environments.

HPE's portfolio includes enterprise servers, high-performance computing systems, data storage, networking equipment, software and technology consulting services. The company also provides hybrid cloud and as-a-service solutions through HPE GreenLake, allowing customers to access and manage computing, storage, data protection and other IT capabilities through a flexible consumption model.

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