LSV Asset Management Sells 462,635 Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE)

Key Points

• LSV Asset Management reduced its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company by 3.2%, selling 462,635 shares but still holds over 13.7 million shares worth approximately $212 million.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for HPE, with Raymond James setting a new target of $26, reflecting a positive sentiment with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.13, leading to an annualized yield of 2.6%, with a payout ratio of 52.53% according to recent reports.

LSV Asset Management lowered its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,776,535 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 462,635 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned about 1.05% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise worth $212,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HPE. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,173,982 shares of the technology company's stock worth $686,011,000 after acquiring an additional 681,242 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,184,240 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $345,534,000 after buying an additional 3,208,424 shares during the last quarter. Slate Path Capital LP lifted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Slate Path Capital LP now owns 12,689,164 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $270,914,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924,039 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,692,175 shares of the technology company's stock worth $164,228,000 after acquiring an additional 658,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 32.9% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,677,528 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $87,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on HPE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $14.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Phil Mottram sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.54, for a total value 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 represents a 41.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 68,590 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $1,264,799.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 128,590 shares of company stock worth $2,436,000. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE HPE traded up $0.21 on Monday, hitting $20.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,704,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,050,208. The firm has a market cap of $26.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.37. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company has a 52-week low of $11.97 and a 52-week high of $24.66. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $19.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.53%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise 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.