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

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.00.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

Enterprise Products Partners stock traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $32.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,831,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,514,406. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $70.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.67. Enterprise Products Partners has a 1-year low of $27.77 and a 1-year high of $34.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.48.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last announced 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 return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 10.71%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas producer to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Enterprise Products Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is currently 82.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EPD. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 32,620 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 5,425 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,505 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after purchasing an additional 9,860 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 204.7% in the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 37,639 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 25,288 shares in the last quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 20.9% during the 1st quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,136 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookwood Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the 1st quarter worth approximately $592,000. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Enterprise Products Partners Company Profile

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, petrochemicals, and refined products. It operates in four segments: NGL Pipelines & Services, Crude Oil Pipelines & Services, Natural Gas Pipelines & Services, and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services.