Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Trading 3.2% Higher – Still a Buy?

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) shot up 3.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $37.74 and last traded at $37.6470. 2,877,640 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 4,295,532 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EPD. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $43.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.94.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Up 3.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $81.38 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.14.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $14.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 3.01 EPS for the current 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 $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is presently 81.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 32,620 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 5,425 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 9.3% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 58,918 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,827,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 63,702 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 3,742 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 27,301 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co increased its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 315.8% in the 2nd quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 33,648 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 25,555 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.