Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Short Interest Down 10.3% in August

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the target of a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 30,800,000 shares, a drop of 10.3% from the August 15th total of 34,320,000 shares. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 11,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HPE traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $17.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,843,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,694,396. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $11.90 and a 1-year high of $18.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $17.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $21.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.25.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 29th. The technology company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 3.64% and a return on equity of 5.32%. The business had revenue of $7 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 13th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 58.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on HPE. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 30th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Thursday, June 29th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $15.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.33.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 434,884 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $7,601,772.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,370,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,952,686.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 434,884 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $7,601,772.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,370,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,952,686.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Alan Richard May sold 343,016 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $5,995,919.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 249,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,361,452.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 799,031 shares of company stock valued at $13,970,865 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,241 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 6,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,957 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 616 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 36,343 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $610,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the period. Finally, ETF Managers Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. ETF Managers Group LLC now owns 43,917 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% 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.