Short Interest in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Drops By 10.7%

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 33,080,000 shares, a drop of 10.7% from the October 15th total of 37,030,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 15,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total value of $493,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 82,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,395,037. This trade represents a 26.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 7,770 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total value of $163,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,191. The trade was a 50.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 426,012 shares of company stock worth $8,599,617 over the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,492,740 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $642,748,000 after acquiring an additional 251,076 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 657,948 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,462,000 after purchasing an additional 87,411 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 414,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,480,000 after purchasing an additional 25,701 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 513,900 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,514,000 after purchasing an additional 99,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 85.3% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 145,371 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,974,000 after purchasing an additional 66,913 shares during the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

NYSE HPE traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $21.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,918,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,044,932. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $19.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1 year low of $14.47 and a 1 year high of $22.82. The company has a market capitalization of $27.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.19.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 6.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HPE shares. Barclays upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup started coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Loop Capital boosted their price target 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. Bank of America upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.46.

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.