Enterprise Products Partners L.P. $EPD Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) by 7.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,270,820 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 319,372 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Enterprise Products Partners were worth $161,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EPD. Walker Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.5% in the first quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 19,974 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 3.8% during the first quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 8,106 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,125,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 32,348 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 5,880 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on EPD. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wolfe Research raised Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Enterprise Products Partners from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.13.

Enterprise Products Partners Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Enterprise Products Partners stock opened at $37.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $81.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.49. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a 52-week low of $30.01 and a 52-week high of $40.17. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.03). Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 19.53%. The firm had revenue of $14.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This is a positive change from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.48%.

Enterprise Products Partners 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.