Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.00.

EPD has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Raymond James Financial cut Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $38.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, February 4th.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:EPD opened at $35.18 on Thursday. Enterprise Products Partners has a 1-year low of $27.77 and a 1-year high of $35.55. The company’s fifty day moving average is $32.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.60.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.44 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 11.05% and a return on equity of 19.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding 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 programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is currently 82.71%.

Insider Activity at Enterprise Products Partners

In other Enterprise Products Partners news, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $32.09 per share, for a total transaction of $481,350.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,570,374.74. This represents a 9.46% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EPD. Quantum Financial Planning Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $310,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 7.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 151,631 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,703,000 after purchasing an additional 9,979 shares in the last quarter. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners during the third quarter worth $1,015,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 678,769 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $21,225,000 after buying an additional 61,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the second quarter worth about $657,000. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.