Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Key Points

• Stock traders purchased a significant volume of 67,631 call options on Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), marking an increase of 72% from its average volume.
• UBS Group raised its price target for HPE from $18 to $23, while Raymond James increased it to $30, both indicating positive sentiment towards the stock.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 2.0%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 67,631 call options on the company. This is an increase of 72% compared to the average volume of 39,407 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $25.06.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 4.4%

NYSE HPE traded up $1.10 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.01. 16,210,034 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,613,094. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a fifty-two week low of $11.97 and a fifty-two week high of $26.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.31 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $22.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.42.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 18th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's payout ratio is currently 63.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 166,666 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.52, for a total transaction of $3,753,318.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,919,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,217,231.20. The trade was a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Maeve C. Culloty sold 3,738 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.12, for a total value of $93,898.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 543,738 shares of company stock valued at $12,922,932 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 169,804,055 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,472,493,000 after buying an additional 2,604,059 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,421,976 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $701,864,000 after buying an additional 724,974 shares during the last quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter valued at about $381,004,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 17,584,742 shares of the technology company's stock worth $271,333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,730,015 shares of the technology company's stock worth $258,144,000 after purchasing an additional 545,775 shares during the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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