Enerplus Co. (TSE:ERF) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Enerplus Co. (TSE:ERF) (NYSE:ERF) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$23.67.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. National Bankshares lowered their price target on Enerplus from C$21.00 to C$18.85 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Enerplus from C$27.75 to C$27.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Enerplus from C$24.00 to C$25.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. ATB Capital reduced their target price on Enerplus from C$27.00 to C$26.50 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Desjardins boosted their target price on Enerplus from C$17.50 to C$19.25 and gave the stock a “tender” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Ian Charles Dundas sold 104,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$24.13, for a total transaction of C$2,521,965.58. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Enerplus Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of TSE ERF opened at C$28.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of C$5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 2.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$23.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$22.37. Enerplus has a 52 week low of C$18.23 and a 52 week high of C$28.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.31, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Enerplus (TSE:ERF) (NYSE:ERF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The oil and natural gas company reported C$0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.71 by C$0.03. The business had revenue of C$595.12 million during the quarter. Enerplus had a return on equity of 39.59% and a net margin of 29.85%. On average, research analysts predict that Enerplus will post 3.001087 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enerplus Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a mar 24 dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.065 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Enerplus’s dividend payout ratio is 12.32%.

About Enerplus

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