Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Trading Down 1.3% – Should You Sell?

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD)’s share price dropped 1.3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $31.66 and last traded at $31.7480. Approximately 4,808,256 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 4,298,883 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued 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 note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Friday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Enterprise Products Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.27.

Enterprise Products Partners Trading Down 1.3%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.58. The company has a market cap of $68.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $12.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas producer to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Enterprise Products Partners

In other news, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of Enterprise Products Partners stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $32.09 per share, for a total transaction of $481,350.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 173,586 shares in the company, valued at $5,570,374.74. This represents a 9.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 32.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners in the second quarter worth $31,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. 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.