Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.7692.

EPD has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Monday, December 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Friday.

Insider Activity at Enterprise Products Partners

In other news, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.09 per share, for a total transaction of $481,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,570,374.74. This trade represents a 9.46% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quantum Financial Planning Services Inc. bought a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the second quarter valued at approximately $310,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 151,631 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,703,000 after acquiring an additional 9,979 shares during the last quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the second quarter valued at $657,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 10.0% in the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 678,769 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $21,225,000 after purchasing an additional 61,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 5.9% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 203,738 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,318,000 after purchasing an additional 11,375 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Enterprise Products Partners Price Performance

Shares of EPD stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.88. 4,963,427 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,976,172. The company has a market capitalization of $71.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Enterprise Products Partners has a 12-month low of $27.77 and a 12-month high of $34.53. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.65.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.83 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 10.92% and a return on equity of 19.40%. Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas producer to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is presently 83.02%.

Enterprise Products Partners Company Profile

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) is a Houston-based master limited partnership that provides midstream energy services across North America. The company owns and operates an extensive network of pipelines, storage facilities, processing plants and export terminals that transport and handle natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil and refined and petrochemical products. Its core activities include gathering and transportation, fractionation of NGLs, natural gas processing, crude oil and condensate pipelines, and marine and terminal services that enable domestic distribution and exports.

Enterprise serves a diverse set of customers including producers, refiners, petrochemical companies, marketers and end users.