Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Reaches New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) reached a new 52-week high on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $33.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Hewlett Packard Enterprise traded as high as $35.55 and last traded at $36.3130, with a volume of 862191 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.97.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $27.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 264,432 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total value of $6,658,397.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,837,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,263,944.22. This represents a 12.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 112,652 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total value of $2,826,438.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 56,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,417,434.46. This represents a 66.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 702,402 shares of company stock worth $18,440,171 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,058,714 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,156,870,000 after buying an additional 1,917,719 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter worth about $901,751,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,869,143 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $835,626,000 after acquiring an additional 431,728 shares during the last quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 47.2% in the 1st quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 27,421,735 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $652,912,000 after acquiring an additional 8,790,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 4th quarter valued at about $433,537,000. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.00. The company has a market capitalization of $48.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -190.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 9th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a negative net margin of 0.41% and a positive return on equity of 9.93%. The business had revenue of $9.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.300-2.500 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.510-0.550 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.1425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 24th. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is presently -300.00%.

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.