Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) shares gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $22.13, but opened at $21.12. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares last traded at $21.21, with a volume of 1,058,399 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HPE has been the subject of several research reports. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Barclays raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $24.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Raymond James raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.21.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Down 6.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $27.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.14%.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In related news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total transaction of $493,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,395,037. The trade was a 26.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total transaction of $1,643,346.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,758,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,680,400.52. The trade was a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 426,012 shares of company stock valued at $8,599,617 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HPE. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 14,953.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 23,189,645 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $490,925,000 after buying an additional 23,035,594 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,228.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 8,825,249 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $186,831,000 after acquiring an additional 8,560,086 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3,537.0% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,788,154 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $127,571,000 after acquiring an additional 5,629,006 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 3rd quarter valued at about $105,185,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 336.7% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,269,603 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $90,387,000 after purchasing an additional 3,291,880 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.