Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Short Interest Update

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 33,080,000 shares, a drop of 10.7% from the October 15th total of 37,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 15,390,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $163,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,191. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total transaction of $1,643,346.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,758,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,680,400.52. This trade represents a 4.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 426,012 shares of company stock worth $8,599,617. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPE. Capital Investment Counsel Inc lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 41,269 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $874,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 10,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 111,617 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,363,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.4% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,665 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.7% in the second quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 35,349 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $748,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.21.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE HPE traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $21.42. The company had a trading volume of 4,689,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,222,150. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 52-week low of $14.47 and a 52-week high of $22.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.50. The stock has a market cap of $27.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.19.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 6.39%. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.14%.

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.