Bailard Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB)

Bailard Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,488 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 422 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Enbridge were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Enbridge by 630.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,531,108 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,083,938,000 after purchasing an additional 28,076,386 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Enbridge by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,491,857 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,704,715,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400,848 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Enbridge by 36.9% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,447,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $348,110,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814,200 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Enbridge by 13.9% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 22,523,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $710,961,000 after purchasing an additional 2,756,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Enbridge by 11.3% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 20,717,604 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $689,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,101,021 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Enbridge in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Enbridge in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Enbridge has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.20.

Enbridge Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ENB opened at $35.82 on Friday. Enbridge Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.03 and a 1-year high of $40.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.80. The company has a market cap of $76.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.84.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.03). Enbridge had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The business had revenue of $8.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.62 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Enbridge Inc. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.677 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.56%. This is an increase from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 129.05%.

Enbridge Profile

Enbridge Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company operates through five segments: Liquids Pipelines, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Gas Distribution and Storage, Renewable Power Generation, and Energy Services. The Liquids Pipelines segment operates pipelines and related terminals to transport various grades of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in Canada and the United States.