Alliancebernstein L.P. Trims Position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company $HPE

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. has reduced its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 19.5%, owning 2,031,436 shares after selling 493,299 shares in the first quarter.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.13, with a declared yield of 2.2% and a payout ratio of 63.41%.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for HPE, with Barclays increasing it from $24.00 to $26.00 and maintaining an "overweight" rating.

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) by 19.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,031,436 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 493,299 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.15% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise worth $31,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 167,199,996 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,579,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,779,446 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,730,015 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $258,144,000 after acquiring an additional 545,775 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1,369.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 15,171,314 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $193,078,000 after purchasing an additional 3,922,516 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.6% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 10,249,122 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $158,144,000 after purchasing an additional 165,316 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise 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 value of $1,264,799.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,427 shares in the company, valued at $871,450.58. This trade represents a 41.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 461,924 shares of company stock worth $10,110,183. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on HPE. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold 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 price target of $24.87.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

HPE traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $24.92. 11,455,417 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,206,313. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business's fifty day moving average is $21.52 and its 200 day moving average is $18.48. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company has a fifty-two week low of $11.97 and a fifty-two week high of $25.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.43.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 18th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 18th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.41%.

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.