ENI (NYSE:E) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

ENI (NYSE:E) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Grupo Santander upgraded ENI to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of ENI from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $56.30 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of ENI in a report on Monday, October 5th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of ENI from $51.00 to $59.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of ENI in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.45.

ENI Price Performance

E stock opened at $57.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.22 and a beta of 0.44. ENI has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $58.00.

ENI (NYSE:E) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.10. ENI had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 6.51%. The firm had revenue of $25.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.93 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that ENI will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ENI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in ENI in the first quarter valued at $63,334,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of ENI by 13.2% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 453,940 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $25,698,000 after purchasing an additional 52,901 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ENI by 35.3% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 133,035 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $7,531,000 after purchasing an additional 34,738 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of ENI during the first quarter worth about $6,586,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of ENI by 5.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 65,344 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $3,699,000 after purchasing an additional 3,438 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

About ENI

Eni S.p.A. is an Italian integrated energy company headquartered in Rome. Established in 1953, the company operates across the energy value chain, with activities spanning oil and natural gas exploration and production, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, refining, chemicals, power generation and energy retail.

Eni explores for and produces hydrocarbons in multiple regions, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. Its downstream businesses include fuel refining and marketing, petrochemicals through Versalis, and natural gas and electricity sales.