Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Takes $222,000 Position in Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 6,163 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Enbridge by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,623 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its stake in Enbridge by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 1,519 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc increased its position in shares of Enbridge by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 6,564 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in Enbridge by 5.1% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 7,057 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the period. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Enbridge by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 21,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. 54.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ENB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Enbridge in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Enbridge in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.20.

Enbridge Stock Performance

NYSE:ENB traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.23. 5,342,044 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,793,471. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $35.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Enbridge Inc. has a one year low of $31.03 and a one year high of $40.22. The firm has a market cap of $79.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.87.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.62 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Enbridge Inc. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.677 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.27%. This is a boost from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 127.14%.

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.