Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Trading Up 1.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) shot up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $38.00 to $40.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Enterprise Products Partners traded as high as $37.10 and last traded at $37.0050. 2,438,957 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 4,790,557 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.59.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded 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 note on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays upped their price target on Enterprise Products Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Enterprise Products Partners has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.71.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 42,639,131 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,367,011,000 after acquiring an additional 260,305 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 3,106.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 32,060,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $102,784,000 after buying an additional 31,060,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 26,787,203 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $830,671,000 after purchasing an additional 69,505 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,116,333 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $612,870,000 after buying an additional 883,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,652,232 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $578,406,000 after acquiring an additional 252,513 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Enterprise Products Partners Trading Up 1.1%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.75.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. 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 19.33%. The company had revenue of $13.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.71%.

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.