Welch & Forbes LLC Lowers Stock Position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,971 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Tandem Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $15.82 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $21.47 and a 200 day moving average of $20.72. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 52 week low of $14.93 and a 52 week high of $24.66. The company has a market cap of $20.77 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is 25.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on HPE. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Raymond James raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Citigroup upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $23.00 to $26.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John F. Schultz sold 262,818 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.62, for a total value of $5,682,125.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 270,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,846,696.60. This represents a 49.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary M. Reiner sold 50,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.47, for a total value of $1,173,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 104,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,445,386.24. This represents a 32.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 324,395 shares of company stock valued at $7,121,896. Corporate insiders own 0.36% 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.