Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: 21 analysts give HPE a "Moderate Buy" average rating (11 holds, 9 buys, 1 strong buy) with a 12-month average price target of about $26.71.
• Significant insider selling: CEO Antonio Neri sold 150,000 shares at $26.50 and EVP Neil Macdonald sold 24,251 shares at ~$27.01; insiders disposed of 602,337 shares (~$15.44M) over the past three months and now own 0.44% of the company.
• Operational update: HPE beat Q1 EPS estimates ($0.65 vs. $0.59) with $9.30B revenue and set FY26 guidance of $2.30–$2.50 EPS (Q2: $0.51–$0.55); the stock recently traded near $28.18 and yields about 2.0%.

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.7059.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 24,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.01, for a total transaction of $655,019.51. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $870,883.43. This trade represents a 42.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $3,975,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,687,329 shares in the company, valued at $44,714,218.50. This represents a 8.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 602,337 shares of company stock worth $15,443,119 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Investment Research Partners LLC boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research Partners LLC now owns 21,925 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.0% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 42,532 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,045,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 7.1% during the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 6,694 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 80,769 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,940,000 after buying an additional 448 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,565 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 0.9%

HPE stock opened at $28.18 on Friday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $23.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.39 billion, a PE ratio of -148.32, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.20. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $15.71 and a 1-year high of $29.63.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 9th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.31 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a negative net margin of 0.41% and a positive return on equity of 9.93%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.300-2.500 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.510-0.550 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.1425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 24th. This represents a $0.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -300.00%.

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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