Brokerages Set Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) PT at $21.87

Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.87.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut Enerplus from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com began coverage on Enerplus in a research report on Saturday, June 1st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on Enerplus from $19.07 to $20.09 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th.

Institutional Trading of Enerplus

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Enerplus by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,179,057 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $18,087,000 after purchasing an additional 53,287 shares in the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Enerplus during the 4th quarter worth about $1,550,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Enerplus by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 946,279 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $14,575,000 after purchasing an additional 152,446 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. increased its position in Enerplus by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 30,000 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 2,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Enerplus by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,398,030 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $21,429,000 after buying an additional 74,880 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.42% of the company’s stock.

Enerplus Stock Performance

NYSE:ERF opened at $20.09 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70. Enerplus has a 1 year low of $13.46 and a 1 year high of $20.97.

Enerplus (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $362.04 million during the quarter. Enerplus had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 24.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Enerplus will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enerplus Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th were given a dividend of $0.065 per share. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. Enerplus’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.44%.

About Enerplus

Enerplus Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, explores and develops crude oil and natural gas in the United States. Its oil and natural gas properties are located primarily in North Dakota, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.