American Century Companies Inc. Increases Holdings in Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 727,769 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,311 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.34% of Enerplus worth $10,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enerplus during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Enerplus during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Enerplus during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC purchased a new position in shares of Enerplus during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Enerplus by 323.0% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,012 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ERF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Enerplus from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 10th. TD Securities boosted their price target on 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 Enerplus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Enerplus Stock Performance

Shares of ERF opened at $17.39 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $15.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.20. Enerplus Co. has a 52 week low of $12.39 and a 52 week high of $19.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 2.18.

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

Enerplus Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 31st will be given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 30th. This is a boost from Enerplus’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. Enerplus’s dividend payout ratio is 6.54%.

About Enerplus

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.