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

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders bought 168,186 call options on Hewlett Packard Enterprise, roughly 302% above its average daily call volume, signaling heightened bullish interest.
• Insider selling continued: CEO Antonio F. Neri and EVP Fidelma Russo recently sold shares, and insiders have sold 702,402 shares worth about $18.4 million over the past three months.
• Analysts turned more positive: Several firms raised price targets and ratings, with the stock now carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $64.65.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 168,186 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 302% compared to the average daily volume of 41,874 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Fidelma Russo sold 17,001 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.97, for a total transaction of $475,517.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 150,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $3,975,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,687,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,714,218.50. This trade represents a 8.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 702,402 shares of company stock valued at $18,440,171 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 159.5% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,165 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the period. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Reflection Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 93.8% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HPE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $26.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Loop Capital upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $25.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.65.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

NYSE:HPE traded up $0.84 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $49.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,551,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,318,738. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 12-month low of $17.49 and a 12-month high of $64.25. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $34.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $64.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.79, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.42.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, June 1st. The technology company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.25. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 3.94%.The business had revenue of $10.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.82) EPS. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's revenue was up 40.0% on a year-over-year basis. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.350-3.450 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.930 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.1425 per share. This represents a $0.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.27%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Profile

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is an enterprise technology company that designs, develops and sells IT infrastructure, software and services for business and government customers. Its core offerings span servers, storage, networking, and related software, together with consulting, integration and support services aimed at modernizing and managing enterprise IT environments. HPE's product portfolio includes systems for traditional data centers as well as solutions for high-performance computing, edge computing and telecommunications infrastructure.

A major focus for HPE is hybrid cloud and consumption-based IT.

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