Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 26,864 call options on the company. This is an increase of 41% compared to the typical volume of 19,108 call options.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE HPE opened at $15.97 on Friday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a fifty-two week low of $14.64 and a fifty-two week high of $24.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $20.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $19.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.42.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 11,577 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total value of $266,271.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,118,145. This represents a 19.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HPE. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 104,990 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,242,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 13,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 62,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 54,060 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. 80.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on HPE shares. Daiwa America cut Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $24.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $27.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.27.

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.