Short Interest in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Declines By 19.8%

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 29,980,000 shares, a drop of 19.8% from the February 13th total of 37,380,000 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 16,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on HPE shares. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.27.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Up 2.7 %

HPE stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.36. 21,468,551 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,952,462. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a fifty-two week low of $14.64 and a fifty-two week high of $24.66. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.52. The company has a market capitalization of $21.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.37%.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 11,577 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total transaction of $266,271.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,118,145. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HPE. 111 Capital acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 203,283 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,340,000 after buying an additional 62,480 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter worth $9,247,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 103.3% in the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 15,391 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 7,819 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

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.