Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Trading 1.8% Higher – Time to Buy?

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) shot up 1.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $34.16 and last traded at $34.07. 6,373,286 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 51% from the average session volume of 4,217,198 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.46.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. 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 report on Thursday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Monday, December 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.77.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Down 2.4%

The company’s 50-day moving average is $32.41 and its 200 day moving average is $31.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.01 billion, a PE ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.83 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 10.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This is a positive change from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.6%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.02%.

Enterprise Products Partners declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas producer to repurchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Enterprise Products Partners news, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 $5,570,374.74. This represents a 9.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Enterprise Products Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EPD. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 32,620 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after buying an additional 5,425 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners during the second quarter worth about $919,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.8% during the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 19,353 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.3% in the second quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 254,651 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,897,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 21.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 92,933 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,882,000 after purchasing an additional 16,157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.