Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,660,223 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 110,675 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise worth $25,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HPE. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 24.7% during 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. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,848,336 shares of the technology company's stock worth $276,075,000 after buying an additional 2,058,562 shares in the last quarter. Slate Path Capital LP increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,924,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,692,175 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $164,228,000 after acquiring an additional 658,117 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HPE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp began coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They issued a "sector weight" rating for the company. Barclays increased their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $22.15.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of HPE traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.72. 20,877,305 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,070,948. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company has a 12 month low of $11.97 and a 12 month high of $24.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.35. The business's 50-day moving average price is $18.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $7.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 4.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. 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 presently 52.53%.

Insider Activity at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, EVP Phil Mottram sold 30,000 shares of the 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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 68,590 shares of the firm'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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 128,590 shares of company stock worth $2,436,000. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.