Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Stock Falls 6.2% – Here’s What Happened

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) shares fell 6.2% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $53.41 and last traded at $55.2220. 16,375,252 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the average daily volume of 21,033,709 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HPE. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $76.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.44.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 6.2%

The firm has a market cap of $73.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The technology company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.18. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The firm had revenue of $12.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.200-1.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a $0.1425 dividend. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is currently 29.69%.

Insider Activity at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.44, for a total value of $15,110,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,432,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,573,832.92. This represents a 14.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Reiner sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.91, for a total value of $967,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 65,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,703,247.52. This trade represents a 20.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 585,899 shares of company stock valued at $37,270,329. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HPE. Irenic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the first quarter valued at $18,691,000. Gunderson Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the third quarter valued at $15,409,000. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the third quarter worth approximately $19,340,000. Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,661,000. Finally, Parkway Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. Parkway Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 110,121 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,036,000 after buying an additional 29,551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) is a global technology company that provides information technology solutions for businesses, governments and other organizations. Its offerings are designed to help customers build, manage and modernize data centers, hybrid cloud environments and edge computing operations.

HPE’s portfolio includes enterprise servers and compute systems, data storage, networking products, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.