Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) to Issue $0.07 Quarterly Dividend

Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 8th, Zacks reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st.

Enerplus has increased its dividend by an average of 37.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Enerplus has a dividend payout ratio of 12.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Enerplus to earn $2.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.5%.

Enerplus Price Performance

Shares of ERF stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $19.97. 485,109 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,851,077. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $19.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.94. Enerplus has a 12 month low of $13.46 and a 12 month high of $20.97. The company has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 1.97.

Enerplus (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $437.10 million during the quarter. Enerplus had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 40.36%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Enerplus will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ERF. CIBC reduced their target price on shares of Enerplus from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Enerplus from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. TD Securities boosted their target price on Enerplus from $19.07 to $20.09 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Enerplus in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Enerplus has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.87.

Enerplus Company Profile

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.