Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Enbridge (NYSE:ENB)

Enbridge Inc (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 20,216 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,036% compared to the average volume of 1,779 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enbridge

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ENB. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in Enbridge by 83.1% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,301,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $104,284,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,093 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Enbridge by 15.3% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,676,947 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $83,176,000 after purchasing an additional 221,976 shares during the last quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Enbridge by 15.3% during the third quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 804,261 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,583,000 after purchasing an additional 106,784 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Enbridge by 7.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 339,147 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $17,113,000 after purchasing an additional 24,165 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its position in Enbridge by 5.7% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 951,773 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $48,026,000 after purchasing an additional 51,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.60% of the company’s stock.

Enbridge Stock Performance

Shares of Enbridge stock opened at $53.67 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Enbridge has a 12 month low of $39.73 and a 12 month high of $55.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 0.63.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 13th. The pipeline company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. Enbridge had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 11.30%.The firm had revenue of $17.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Enbridge will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ENB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Enbridge from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Enbridge from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Enbridge from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. TD Securities cut Enbridge from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Enbridge from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Enbridge presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.00.

About Enbridge

Enbridge Inc is a Calgary, Alberta–based energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of energy transportation, distribution and generation assets. Its core activities include the operation of crude oil and liquids pipelines, natural gas transmission and distribution systems, and energy storage facilities. In addition to midstream transportation and storage, Enbridge has expanded into renewable power generation and energy transition projects, including wind, solar and utility-scale generation assets.

The company serves customers primarily in Canada and the United States and has interests in other international energy projects.