Short Interest in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Drops By 14.9%

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,760,000 shares, a decrease of 14.9% from the August 15th total of 24,400,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 16,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HPE. Bank of America raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $24.00 in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.08.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

HPE stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.30. 17,672,425 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,942,194. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.60. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.47 and a 1-year high of $22.82. The company has a market cap of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.36, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.19. 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 (NYSE:HPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.67 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 6.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is 37.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

In other Hewlett Packard Enterprise news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 82,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,395,037. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 571.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 1,343 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 253.9% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 224.5% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,853 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank boosted its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 89.4% in the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,949 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.