Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Now Covered by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $33.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

EPD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.08.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE EPD opened at $32.06 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.61. Enterprise Products Partners has a one year low of $27.77 and a one year high of $34.53. The firm has a market cap of $69.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $12.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.83 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 10.92% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas producer to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Enterprise Products Partners news, Director John R. Rutherford bought 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.09 per share, for a total transaction of $481,350.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,570,374.74. The trade was a 9.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 32.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the third quarter worth about $292,194,000. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 14,624,238 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $453,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834,659 shares during the last quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the second quarter valued at approximately $47,628,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 119.4% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,414,035 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $74,859,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,976 shares during the period. Finally, Berkley W R Corp increased its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 17.9% in the third quarter. Berkley W R Corp now owns 6,000,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $187,620,000 after purchasing an additional 910,206 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Enterprise Products Partners

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.