Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

HPE has been the topic of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $21.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $69.00 price target (up from $31.00) on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $39.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Argus raised their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $30.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.65.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

HPE stock opened at $46.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.84 billion, a PE ratio of 43.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50-day moving average is $33.54 and its 200-day moving average is $26.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1 year low of $17.49 and a 1 year high of $64.25.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 1st. The technology company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $10.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.78 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 3.94% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The business’s revenue was up 40.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.82) EPS. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.350-3.450 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.930 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.1425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $0.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.27%.

Insider Activity

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 6,482 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.10, for a total transaction of $188,626.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $233,323.80. This trade represents a 44.70% decrease in their position. The transaction 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, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 264,432 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total transaction of $6,658,397.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,837,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,263,944.22. This represents a 12.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 702,402 shares of company stock worth $18,440,171. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HPE. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 159.5% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,165 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Union Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Reflection Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 93.8% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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.