Hewlett Packard Enterprise Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:HPE)

Key Points

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) experienced a 51% increase in call options trading, with investors purchasing 31,071 options on a given Wednesday.
• Insider transactions revealed significant selling, with executives Jeremy Cox and Phil Mottram selling 68,590 and 30,000 shares, respectively, totaling over $1.88 million.
• Wall Street analysts upgraded HPE's rating, with prices targets raised by multiple brokerages, including Barclays and Deutsche Bank, highlighting a general sentiment of growth potential.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 31,071 call options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseof51% compared to the average volume of 20,618 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 68,590 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Phil Mottram sold 30,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.54, for a total transaction of $616,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $871,450.58. The trade was a 41.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 128,590 shares of company stock worth $2,436,000 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HPE. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 126.7% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the first quarter worth $25,000. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HPE. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.87.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Up 0.8%

HPE traded up $0.18 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.50. 4,999,623 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,869,885. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1 year low of $11.97 and a 1 year high of $24.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $19.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.28. The firm has a market cap of $28.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.37.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 4.60% and a return on equity of 9.59%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio is 52.53%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Profile

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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