Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. $EPD

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 23,545 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the third quarter worth about $1,015,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 10.0% during the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 678,769 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $21,225,000 after acquiring an additional 61,669 shares during the last quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $657,000. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 90.4% in the 2nd quarter. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. now owns 22,671 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $703,000 after acquiring an additional 10,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 229,911 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,189,000 after purchasing an additional 38,660 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EPD. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Enterprise Products Partners from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.00.

Insider Activity at Enterprise Products Partners

In related news, Director John R. Rutherford bought 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.09 per share, with a total value of $481,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,570,374.74. This represents a 9.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Enterprise Products Partners Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE EPD opened at $36.32 on Friday. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a one year low of $27.77 and a one year high of $37.31. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $33.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.60.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 11.05% and a return on equity of 19.43%. The company had revenue of $13.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.1%. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 82.71%.

Enterprise Products Partners announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas producer to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Enterprise Products Partners Company 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.