Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. Purchases New Stake in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. $EPD

Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 41,027 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 26,787,203 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $830,671,000 after acquiring an additional 69,505 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 80,884 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 11,570,499 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $361,810,000 after purchasing an additional 214,995 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at about $292,194,000. Finally, Berkley W R Corp raised its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Berkley W R Corp now owns 6,000,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $187,620,000 after purchasing an additional 910,206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EPD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Friday, December 19th. 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 report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.14.

Enterprise Products Partners Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:EPD opened at $38.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a one year low of $27.77 and a one year high of $38.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.00.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 11.05% and a return on equity of 19.33%. The business had revenue of $13.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were given 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.8%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 82.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Aj Teague purchased 2,665 shares of Enterprise Products Partners stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $37.55 per share, for a total transaction of $100,070.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 77,576 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.09 per share, with a total value of $481,350.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 173,586 shares in the company, valued at $5,570,374.74. The trade was a 9.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.