Credit Suisse AG Grows Stock Position in Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF)

Credit Suisse AG raised its position in Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 248,876 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,363 shares during the period. Credit Suisse AG owned about 0.12% of Enerplus worth $3,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ERF. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Enerplus by 10.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,448 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 2,999 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Enerplus in the 1st quarter worth $965,000. ClariVest Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Enerplus by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 126,440 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 6,710 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd grew its position in shares of Enerplus by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 40,690 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 6,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Enerplus by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 645,361 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $9,299,000 after purchasing an additional 115,453 shares during the last quarter. 56.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Enerplus from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 10th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Enerplus from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Enerplus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Enerplus currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.50.

Enerplus Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Enerplus stock opened at $17.12 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.23. Enerplus Co. has a 52-week low of $12.39 and a 52-week high of $19.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 2.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Enerplus (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 9th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Enerplus had a return on equity of 57.30% and a net margin of 41.72%. The business had revenue of $350.94 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Enerplus Co. will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Enerplus Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 31st will be paid a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 30th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. This is a positive change from Enerplus’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. Enerplus’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.99%.

Enerplus Profile

Enerplus Corporation, together with subsidiaries, acquires, develops, and explores crude oil and natural gas in the United States. Its oil and natural gas properties are located primarily in North Dakota, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. Enerplus Corporation was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.