Enterprise Products Partners Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:EPD)

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 28,021 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 124% compared to the average daily volume of 12,515 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EPD. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Enterprise Products Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.77.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

Enterprise Products Partners stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $32.61. The stock had a trading volume of 2,328,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,045,493. The stock has a market cap of $70.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $32.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Enterprise Products Partners has a 1 year low of $27.77 and a 1 year high of $34.53.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.07). Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 10.92%.The firm had revenue of $12.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is presently 82.26%.

Enterprise Products Partners declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas producer to purchase up to 7.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Enterprise Products Partners

In related news, Director John R. Rutherford acquired 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.09 per share, with a total value of $481,350.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,570,374.74. This trade represents a 9.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 32.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.