Cerity Partners LLC Increases Stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) by 104.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 302,202 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 154,563 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $6,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 387.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 94,346 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,930,000 after purchasing an additional 74,973 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,537.0% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,788,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $127,571,000 after buying an additional 5,629,006 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,609,078 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $196,602,000 after acquiring an additional 129,463 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 20.0% during the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 23,979 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 18.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 27,383,858 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $560,274,000 after acquiring an additional 4,194,213 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HPE. Raymond James raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Nine investment 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, Hewlett Packard Enterprise presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total transaction of $1,643,346.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,758,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,680,400.52. This represents a 4.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total transaction of $493,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,395,037. The trade was a 26.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 426,012 shares of company stock worth $8,599,617 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HPE opened at $20.82 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.58 and its 200 day moving average is $19.71. The stock has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.19. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.47 and a 1-year high of $22.82. 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 (NYSE:HPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 37.14%.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise 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.