Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Shares Down 1.7% – What’s Next?

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD)’s stock price was down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $36.10 and last traded at $36.1250. Approximately 5,088,147 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 3% from the average daily volume of 5,254,437 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on EPD shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $38.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.00.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $78.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.60.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.44 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.43% and a net margin of 11.05%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.1%. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is 82.71%.

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

Insider Activity at Enterprise Products Partners

In other news, Director John R. Rutherford acquired 15,000 shares of the 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 acquisition, the director owned 173,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,570,374.74. This represents a 9.46% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 32.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Enterprise Products Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 42,639,131 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,367,011,000 after purchasing an additional 260,305 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 26,787,203 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $830,671,000 after buying an additional 69,505 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,116,333 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $612,870,000 after acquiring an additional 883,983 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,652,232 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $578,406,000 after acquiring an additional 252,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 18,163,343 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $582,317,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940,583 shares during the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.