Traders Purchase Large Volume of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Put Options (NYSE:HPE)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 32,649 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 57% compared to the typical volume of 20,742 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on HPE shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $26.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $26.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Daiwa America lowered Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.27.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock opened at $12.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.78 billion, a PE ratio of 6.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 12 month low of $11.97 and a 12 month high of $24.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 11,577 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total transaction of $266,271.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,118,145. The trade was a 19.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HPE. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Tandem Financial LLC purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Elequin Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.78% of the company’s stock.

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.