Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Upgraded by Citigroup to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was upgraded by equities researchers at Citigroup to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Loop Capital upped their target price 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, June 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Thursday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.67.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

HPE opened at $20.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.52. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a one year low of $11.97 and a one year high of $24.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.35.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The technology company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 4.60%. The company had revenue of $7.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, EVP Phil Mottram sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.54, for a total transaction of $616,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $871,450.58. This trade represents a 41.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 68,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $1,264,799.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 128,590 shares of company stock valued at $2,436,000 over the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 167,199,996 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,579,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779,446 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,173,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $686,011,000 after buying an additional 681,242 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 17,584,742 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,333,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373,850 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,730,015 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $258,144,000 after acquiring an additional 545,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1,369.1% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 16,279,442 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,192,000 after acquiring an additional 15,171,314 shares in the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company 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.