Traders Buy High Volume of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Call Options (NYSE:HPE)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 36,476 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 53% compared to the average volume of 23,792 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 6,409 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.19, for a total value of $84,534.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Phil Mottram sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total transaction of $555,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 72,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,339,899.50. This trade represents a 29.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPE. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the first quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 345.0% in the first quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company's stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 11.4%

HPE traded up $2.10 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $20.51. 58,069,414 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,671,218. The company's fifty day moving average price is $17.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.60. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a one year low of $11.97 and a one year high of $24.66. The company has a market cap of $26.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.31. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.51 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 4.60% and a return on equity of 9.59%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's payout ratio is 52.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $14.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.54.

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.