Investors Purchase Large Volume of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Put Options (NYSE:HPE)

Key Points

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) experienced a significant increase in put options trading, with 27,434 contracts purchased, marking a 30% rise from its average volume.
• Analysts have mostly rated HPE as a "Moderate Buy," with an average target price of $22.87, while several firms have recently raised their price targets for the stock.
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings, with a $0.38 EPS that surpassed expectations and revenue growth of 5.9% year-over-year, totaling $7.63 billion.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 27,434 put options on the company. Thisisanincreaseof30% compared to the typical volume of 21,100 put options.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 68,590 shares of the 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Phil Mottram sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 42,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $871,450.58. This trade represents a 41.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 128,590 shares of company stock valued at $2,436,000. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 169,804,055 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,472,493,000 after buying an additional 2,604,059 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 724,974 shares in the last quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter valued at $381,004,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 2,373,850 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised 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 acquiring an additional 545,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on HPE shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set a "sector weight" rating for the company. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $14.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.87.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPE traded down $0.3020 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $21.3280. The stock had a trading volume of 11,584,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,595,386. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $20.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a PEG ratio of 3.12 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.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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 business's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.780-1.900 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.400-0.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

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

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.