Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 25,264 Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company $HPE

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its Hewlett Packard Enterprise stake by 1.7% in the first quarter, buying 25,264 shares and bringing its total holdings to 1,492,010 shares worth about $35.5 million.
• HPE reported a strong quarterly beat, posting EPS of $0.79 versus the $0.54 estimate and revenue of $10.68 billion versus $9.78 billion expected, with revenue up 40% year over year.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on the stock, with an average Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $64.65, while analysts such as Bank of America and Raymond James recently raised their targets significantly.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,492,010 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,264 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise worth $35,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HPE. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 215,593 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,179,000 after buying an additional 41,896 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 490,000 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $11,770,000 after acquiring an additional 90,000 shares in the last quarter. Freemont Management S.A. grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 197.1% during the fourth quarter. Freemont Management S.A. now owns 217,200 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,217,000 after acquiring an additional 144,100 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 337,691 shares of the technology company's stock worth $8,111,000 after acquiring an additional 126,938 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,058,714 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,156,870,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917,719 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 6,482 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.10, for a total transaction of $188,626.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $233,323.80. This represents a 44.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marie Myers sold 93,583 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total value of $2,808,425.83. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 204,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,144,667.54. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 160,102 shares of company stock valued at $5,038,662. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

HPE stock opened at $45.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company has a one year low of $19.64 and a one year high of $64.25. The stock has a market cap of $60.67 billion, a PE ratio of 42.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.58.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 1st. The technology company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.25. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 3.94% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The firm had revenue of $10.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.82) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 40.0% on a year-over-year basis. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.350-3.450 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.930 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.1425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HPE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $38.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $26.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $29.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $30.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.65.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Profile

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is an enterprise technology company that designs, develops and sells IT infrastructure, software and services for business and government customers. Its core offerings span servers, storage, networking, and related software, together with consulting, integration and support services aimed at modernizing and managing enterprise IT environments. HPE's product portfolio includes systems for traditional data centers as well as solutions for high-performance computing, edge computing and telecommunications infrastructure.

A major focus for HPE is hybrid cloud and consumption-based IT.

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