Comerica Bank Trims Stock Holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company $HPE

Key Points

• Comerica Bank reduced its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 9.6%, selling 20,079 shares, leaving them with 188,828 shares valued at approximately $2.91 million.
• Numerous institutional investors have increased their holdings in HPE, with the National Bank of Canada FI expanding its position by an impressive 1,369.1%.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise reported $0.38 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analyst estimates, along with a revenue of $7.63 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 5.9%.

Comerica Bank decreased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 188,828 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 20,079 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $2,914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.9% during the first quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 52,143 shares of the technology company's stock worth $805,000 after buying an additional 1,491 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 503.7% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 139,214 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,148,000 after buying an additional 116,155 shares during the period. Quantitative Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the first quarter worth approximately $1,434,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 21.7% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 30,125 shares of the technology company's stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 5,380 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 5.0% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 27,905 shares of the technology company's stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the company's stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock traded up $0.58 during trading on Thursday, reaching $23.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 39,119,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,069,383. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company has a 12-month low of $11.97 and a 12-month high of $24.66. The company has a market capitalization of $30.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.38.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 4.60%.The firm had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's payout ratio is 52.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, EVP Phil Mottram sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.54, for a total transaction of $616,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $871,450.58. The trade was a 41.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 68,590 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total value of $1,264,799.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 378,590 shares of company stock worth $8,106,833. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on HPE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.67.

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.