Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise's stock rating has been upgraded by Morgan Stanley from "equal weight" to "overweight," with a new price target of $28.00, suggesting a potential upside of 33% from its previous close.
• Analysts have varying opinions on HPE, with two rating it a Strong Buy, seven as a Buy, and nine as a Hold, leading to an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of approximately $23.27.
• In its most recent quarterly results, HPE reported earnings of $0.38 per share, exceeding expectations, alongside a revenue increase of 5.9% year-over-year, totaling $7.63 billion.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $28.00 price objective on the technology company's stock, up from their prior price objective of $22.00. Morgan Stanley's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 32.99% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on HPE. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set a "sector weight" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Friday, July 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.27.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

HPE opened at $21.0550 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $27.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.27, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.37. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $11.97 and a 1-year high of $24.66. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 4.60% and a return on equity of 9.59%. The business had revenue of $7.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.780-1.900 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.400-0.450 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 68,590 shares of the company'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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $616,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 128,590 shares of company stock worth $2,436,000. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPE. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 4,902 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 23,639 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 17,846 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 4,420 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the period. Finally, Benson Investment Management Company Inc. grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Benson Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 227,291 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,648,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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