Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Shares Down 1.7% – Here’s Why

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD)’s share price fell 1.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $36.10 and last traded at $36.1250. 5,088,147 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 5,254,437 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on EPD. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.00.

Enterprise Products Partners Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.11. The stock has a market cap of $78.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.60.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.43% and a net margin of 11.05%.The company had revenue of $13.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.1%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.71%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of Enterprise Products Partners stock in a transaction on Monday, December 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.09 per share, with a total value of $481,350.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,570,374.74. This trade represents a 9.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 32.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EPD. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $292,194,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 12.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 14,624,238 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $453,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834,659 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 119.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,414,035 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $74,859,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,928,068 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $93,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069,304 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.