Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. $EPD

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,697,380 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 1,027,273 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.22% of Enterprise Products Partners worth $146,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Verus Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.0% during the second quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 32,311 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. Next Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Next Capital Management LLC now owns 14,625 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC lifted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 23,944 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $743,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.8% during the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 19,353 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.7% in the third quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 21,242 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EPD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Raymond James Financial cut Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Enterprise Products Partners currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.77.

Enterprise Products Partners Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:EPD opened at $33.10 on Tuesday. 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 L.P. has a 1 year low of $27.77 and a 1 year high of $34.53. The company has a market cap of $71.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.49, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.77.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is 83.02%.

Enterprise Products Partners announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas producer to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of Enterprise Products Partners stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.09 per share, for a total transaction of $481,350.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,570,374.74. The trade was a 9.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Enterprise Products Partners Profile

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.