Traders Purchase Large Volume of Enbridge Put Options (NYSE:ENB)

Enbridge Inc (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 20,216 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,036% compared to the typical volume of 1,779 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enbridge

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Enbridge by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 93,187,025 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,124,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569,879 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Enbridge by 1.5% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 75,439,320 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,338,405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148,580 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Enbridge by 1.3% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 39,265,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,737,602,000 after purchasing an additional 513,058 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Enbridge by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,752,759 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,643,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,799 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Enbridge by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 36,336,212 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,541,745,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Enbridge to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Enbridge in a research note on Monday, May 12th. CIBC reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Enbridge in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on shares of Enbridge in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Enbridge in a report on Friday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Enbridge has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.00.

Enbridge Stock Performance

Shares of ENB opened at $44.51 on Thursday. Enbridge has a 1 year low of $34.71 and a 1 year high of $47.44. The company has a market cap of $97.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $45.83 and a 200-day moving average of $44.08.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The pipeline company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.04. Enbridge had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Enbridge will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.679 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. This is an increase from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio is presently 140.21%.

About Enbridge

Enbridge Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company operates through five segments: Liquids Pipelines, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Gas Distribution and Storage, Renewable Power Generation, and Energy Services. The Liquids Pipelines segment operates pipelines and related terminals to transport various grades of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in Canada and the United States.