Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 658,811 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 57,519 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. owned 0.05% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise worth $11,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HPE. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the fourth quarter worth $51,384,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter worth about $48,291,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 276.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,302,065 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,987,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,083 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 70.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,550,595 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,464,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS grew its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 261.6% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 2,015,451 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,222,000 after buying an additional 1,458,034 shares in the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Stock Performance

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock traded up $0.33 on Friday, hitting $16.86. The stock had a trading volume of 7,951,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,274,905. The stock has a market cap of $21.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 52-week low of $13.65 and a 52-week high of $20.07. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.41.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.09 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 6.81%. The firm’s revenue was down 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.86%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 18,323 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.96, for a total transaction of $310,758.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $263,575.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on HPE shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. StockNews.com cut Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.91.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise 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.