Enterprise Products Partners Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:EPD)

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 176,828 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,179% compared to the average volume of 13,821 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on EPD. Raymond James Financial cut Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 5th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Monday, January 12th. They set a “hold” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Friday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.77.

Insider Activity at Enterprise Products Partners

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Anchyra Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners during the fourth quarter worth $365,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the 4th quarter worth about $174,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 122,458 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,926,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC lifted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 297,073 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $9,524,000 after buying an additional 1,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $858,000. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of EPD opened at $34.07 on Friday. Enterprise Products Partners has a 52-week low of $27.77 and a 52-week high of $34.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.74. The company has a market capitalization of $73.70 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.59.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.07). Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 10.92% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The firm had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This is a positive change from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.26%.

Enterprise Products Partners announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas producer to reacquire up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.