Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Stock

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) had its price target raised by Bank of America from $23.00 to $24.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the technology company's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on HPE. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $14.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $22.15.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.72. The company had a trading volume of 20,877,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,039,490. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a fifty-two week low of $11.97 and a fifty-two week high of $24.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $27.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.61.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 4.60% and a return on equity of 9.59%. The company had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 68,590 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $1,264,799.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Phil Mottram sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.54, for a total transaction of $616,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $871,450.58. This trade represents a 41.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 128,590 shares of company stock valued at $2,436,000. Insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1,369.1% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 16,279,442 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,192,000 after buying an additional 15,171,314 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,847.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,831,262 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $180,599,000 after buying an additional 8,607,523 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $119,067,000. Slate Path Capital LP boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Slate Path Capital LP now owns 12,689,164 shares of the technology company's stock worth $270,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 45.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,521,303 shares of the technology company's stock worth $193,078,000 after purchasing an additional 3,922,516 shares during the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by 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.