Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Research Coverage Started at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $33.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of 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. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Monday, December 1st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.77.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE EPD opened at $32.46 on Monday. Enterprise Products Partners has a 12 month low of $27.77 and a 12 month high of $34.53. The company has a market capitalization of $70.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.63. 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 (NYSE:EPD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.07). Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 10.92%.The business had revenue of $12.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.26%.

Insider Activity at Enterprise Products Partners

In other news, Director John R. Rutherford bought 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.09 per share, for a total transaction of $481,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 173,586 shares in the company, valued at $5,570,374.74. The trade was a 9.46% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 32.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quantum Financial Planning Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at $310,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 151,631 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,703,000 after purchasing an additional 9,979 shares in the last quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Enterprise Products Partners in the second quarter valued at about $657,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $21,225,000 after purchasing an additional 61,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 5.9% in the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 203,738 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,318,000 after buying an additional 11,375 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.