Enerplus Co. (TSE:ERF) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.07

Enerplus Co. (TSE:ERF) (NYSE:ERF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 8th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.065 per share by the oil and natural gas company on Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Enerplus’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06.

Enerplus Price Performance

Shares of Enerplus stock traded up C$0.29 on Wednesday, hitting C$27.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 575,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,899. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of C$26.32 and a 200-day moving average price of C$22.91. Enerplus has a 52-week low of C$18.23 and a 52-week high of C$28.84. The company has a market capitalization of C$5.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 2.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.31.

Enerplus (TSE:ERF) (NYSE:ERF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The oil and natural gas company reported C$0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.71 by C$0.03. Enerplus had a net margin of 29.85% and a return on equity of 39.59%. The firm had revenue of C$595.12 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Enerplus will post 3.001087 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ERF. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Enerplus from C$24.00 to C$25.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Desjardins upped their price objective on shares of Enerplus from C$19.25 to C$20.00 and gave the company a “tender” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. National Bankshares dropped their price objective on shares of Enerplus from C$21.00 to C$18.85 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Enerplus from C$27.25 to C$32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$24.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Enerplus

In other news, Senior Officer Ian Charles Dundas sold 104,537 shares of Enerplus stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$24.13, for a total transaction of C$2,521,965.58. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.