Enterprise Products Partners Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:EPD)

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 21,164 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 63% compared to the average volume of 12,974 call options.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

Shares of Enterprise Products Partners stock opened at $36.47 on Thursday. Enterprise Products Partners has a fifty-two week low of $30.01 and a fifty-two week high of $40.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.78.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $14.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.62 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 11.45%.Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Aj Teague purchased 2,665 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $37.55 per share, with a total value of $100,070.75. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 77,576 shares in the company, valued at $2,912,978.80. The trade was a 3.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 42,639,131 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,367,011,000 after acquiring an additional 260,305 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 3,106.0% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 32,060,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $102,784,000 after acquiring an additional 31,060,000 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,116,333 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $612,870,000 after acquiring an additional 883,983 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 18,163,343 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $582,317,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.6% during the third quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 14,705,122 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $459,829,000 after acquiring an additional 80,884 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EPD has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Enterprise Products Partners has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.94.

Enterprise Products Partners Company Profile

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.