Enterprise Products Partners L.P. $EPD Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) by 20.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 179,039 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 45,581 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Enterprise Products Partners were worth $6,581,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake 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 valued at $102,784,000 after purchasing an additional 31,060,000 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $508,461,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the 2nd quarter worth $416,553,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the second quarter worth $255,325,000. Finally, Berkley W R Corp purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at about $250,887,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EPD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $38.00 price target (down from $39.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Enterprise Products Partners from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective (up from $40.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Enterprise Products Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EPD opened at $39.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a 1-year low of $30.01 and a 1-year high of $40.17. The company has a market capitalization of $85.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.04 and a 200-day moving average of $37.76.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.69 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 10.79%.Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 60.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.78%.

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.