Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Trading Down 1.2% – Time to Sell?

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD)’s stock price traded down 1.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $37.04 and last traded at $37.0720. 3,023,933 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 4,704,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upped their target price on Enterprise Products Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Enterprise Products Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.14.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $81.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.59.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.44 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.33% and a net margin of 11.05%.Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.9%. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 82.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John R. Rutherford acquired 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.09 per share, with a total value of $481,350.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 173,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,570,374.74. This trade represents a 9.46% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 32.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Enterprise Products Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,145 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $661,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,125,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 19,678 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 32,348 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 5,880 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.