ENI (NYSE:E) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of ENI (NYSE:E) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

Separately, Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of ENI from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th.

ENI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE E opened at $32.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 1.01. ENI has a one year low of $26.50 and a one year high of $34.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.30.

ENI (NYSE:E) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $26.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.86 billion. ENI had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 5.00%. Analysts forecast that ENI will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ENI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.5186 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This is a boost from ENI’s previous — dividend of $0.49. ENI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.01%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ENI

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of ENI by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,861 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 2,796 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ENI by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 89,779 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after buying an additional 25,157 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ENI by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,327 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ENI by 199.8% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 30,199 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $883,000 after buying an additional 20,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ENI by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 590,847 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $17,282,000 after buying an additional 5,621 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

About ENI

Eni S.p.A. operates as an integrated energy company worldwide. It engages in exploration, development, extracting, manufacturing, and marketing crude oil and natural gas, oil-based fuels, chemical products, and gas-fired power, as well as energy products from renewable sources. The company operates through Exploration & Production; Global Gas & LNG Portfolio (GGP); Refining & Marketing and Chemicals; Plenitude & Power; and Corporate and Other Activities segments.