Needham Investment Management LLC Purchases 2,000 Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Needham Investment Management LLC increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 82,500 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise were worth $1,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,557 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $161,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 104,990 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,242,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 13,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 62,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Financial Inc. raised its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 54,060 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,154,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HPE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $26.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $27.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $14.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 6,409 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.19, for a total transaction of $84,534.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of HPE stock opened at $17.72 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $15.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.29. 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 has a 52 week low of $11.97 and a 52 week high of $24.66.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 25.37%.

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.