Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) - Analysts’ Recent Ratings Changes

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) recently received a number of ratings updates from brokerages and research firms:

• 7/14/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Maxim Group. They now have a $18.00 price target on the stock. They wrote, “Implementation of Infosight from NMBL for servers could raise margins, but we are skeptical. Margin analysis suggest that HPE server differentiation is currently weak. Consensus is likely embedding a weak rebound of server operating margins, which is likely realistic, in our view.””
• 7/12/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada. They now have a $20.00 price target on the stock.
• 7/12/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Mizuho.
• 7/12/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise was upgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 7/5/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise was downgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating.
• 7/4/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its price target lowered by analysts at CIBC from $27.00 to $21.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 6/27/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise was upgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 6/20/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise was downgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating.
• 6/9/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Mizuho.
• 6/7/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Robert W. Baird. They now have a $19.00 price target on the stock. They wrote, “We attended HPE Discover, the company’s annual user and partner conference, in Las Vegas this week. Attendance was down this year at nearly 9,000 versus 10,000 attendees in the last two years. Refined focus ex-Services & Software has given management confidence on HPE’s ability to out-innovate larger competitors and capture opportunities like Hybrid IT , Edge Computing, and IoT . We generally view the focus as positive but remain Neutral-rated given secular and competitive pressures facing HPE’s core markets. IR SUMMIT: – F17 guidance. Although there was no change to F17 guidance, management did provide detail on back-end loaded EPS targets. Specifically, the company expects normal year-end seasonality and the previously announced $200-30M cost savings to provide 300-400 bps upside to EG margins by Q4. Around half of the cost savings will be aimed at transitory items (i.e., discretionary tightening) with the remainder focused on more permanent structural realignment (i.e., “right-sizing” recent acquisitions). – EG margins. Despite growth in higher-margin businesses (e.g., 3PAR, Aruba), overall EG margins have continued to decline. Management noted that half of the 300bps decline witnessed in FQ2 was due to DRAM-related pressure (20-25% of server BOM), which could abate with near-term customer pricing traction and medium-term component supply improvements.””
• 6/5/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating. According to Zacks, “Hewlett Packard Enterprise offers technology solutions to business and public sector enterprises. The company reported lower-than-expected bottom-line results. Revenues also declined significantly on a year-over-year basis mainly due to reduced server unit sales, decline in software sales, competitive pricing, heightened commodities pricing pressure, unfavorable exchange rates, soft market condition and some execution issues. Nonetheless, we are encouraged by the company’s massive restructuring initiatives. On the one hand, it is offloading low margin business such as Software, which in our opinion will improvise the company’s margins over the long run. On the other hand, it is enhancing its capabilities in the hybrid IT model as evident from the company’s recent agreements to acquire SimpliVity and Cloud Cruiser. We believe that the company’s focus on hybrid IT model will drive growth in the long run.”
• 6/5/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Raymond James Financial, Inc.. They now have a $21.00 price target on the stock.
• 6/3/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Credit Suisse Group.
• 6/3/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein.
• 6/3/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise was given a new $17.00 price target on by analysts at Berenberg Bank. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 6/1/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Robert W. Baird.
• 6/1/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “underweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Barclays PLC. They now have a $17.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $18.00.
• 6/1/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Morgan Stanley. They now have a $18.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $17.00.
• 6/1/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. They now have a $17.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $20.00.
• 5/26/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus. They now have a $20.00 price target on the stock.
• 5/23/2017 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Credit Suisse Group. They now have a $21.00 price target on the stock.

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) traded down 0.958% during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.065. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,402,425 shares. The firm has a market cap of $28.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.938 and a beta of 2.75. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company has a 52-week low of $14.76 and a 52-week high of $19.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $17.65 and its 200-day moving average is $17.66.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 31st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.35. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 9.80%. The company had revenue of $9.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post $1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In related news, EVP Christopher P. Hsu sold 72,935 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.28, for a total value of $1,333,251.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 82,582 shares in the company, valued at $1,509,598.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jeff T. Ricci sold 31,695 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.23, for a total transaction of $577,799.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,799.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 532,637 shares of company stock worth $9,150,294 in the last 90 days. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company is a provider of technology solutions. The Company’s segments include: Enterprise Group, Software, Financial Services and Corporate Investments. The Enterprise Group segment provides its customers with the technology infrastructure they need to optimize traditional information technology (IT).