Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Stock

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) had its price target increased by analysts at Citigroup from $20.00 to $23.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 7.88% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Raymond James raised Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.21.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $21.32. The stock had a trading volume of 3,355,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,214,737. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.50. 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 fifty-two week low of $14.47 and a fifty-two week high of $22.82. The company has a market cap of $27.69 billion, a PE ratio of 15.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.19.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The business 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%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 4.9% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 17,770 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 40,786 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,154 shares during the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. raised its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 86,202 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after acquiring an additional 18,664 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 842,739 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,942,000 after acquiring an additional 268,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,245,000. Institutional investors 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.