Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. closed $2.36 below its 52-week high ($22.82), which the company reached on June 18th.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) shares surged 5% after Barclays upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight, raising the price target to $24 from $20. Barclays says HPE stock does not have what it calls an "AI premium" seen with other tech names,

General Motors and Ford Motor were downgraded by Morgan Stanley on Chinese compeition. U.S. equities were mostly lower at midday Wednesday, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed at fresh record highs. The Dow and the S&P 500 were down, and the Nasdaq was little changed.

This was the stock's fourth consecutive day of gains.

The stock market is trading slightly lower at midday, with the S&P 500 down 0.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.6%, while the Russell 2000 dropped 1%.