Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Trading 1% Higher - Here's Why

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD - Get Free Report) shares traded up 1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $31.49 and last traded at $31.23. 728,279 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 5,237,505 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EPD. Wolfe Research lowered Enterprise Products Partners from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.89.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $67.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.61 and a 200-day moving average of $31.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.07 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The firm's revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.535 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $2.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.89%. Enterprise Products Partners's dividend payout ratio is 79.55%.

Institutional Trading of Enterprise Products Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verity & Verity LLC increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 110,648 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $3,470,000 after purchasing an additional 26,032 shares during the last quarter. Spinnaker Trust bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $280,000. FourThought Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 140,532 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $4,407,000 after buying an additional 21,970 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 61.7% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 135,836 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $3,954,000 after acquiring an additional 51,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 310,132 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $9,726,000 after acquiring an additional 21,192 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company's stock.

Enterprise Products Partners Company Profile

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, petrochemicals, and refined products. It operates in four segments: NGL Pipelines & Services, Crude Oil Pipelines & Services, Natural Gas Pipelines & Services, and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services.