Enterprise Products Partners Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:EPD)

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 24,536 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 42% compared to the typical daily volume of 17,297 call options.

Insider Activity at Enterprise Products Partners

In related news, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of Enterprise Products Partners stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.09 per share, for a total transaction of $481,350.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,570,374.74. The trade was a 9.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 32.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 32,620 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 5,425 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 13.3% in the second quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 8,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 530,446 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $16,880,000 after purchasing an additional 70,613 shares during the period. CORDA Investment Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 38,060 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after acquiring an additional 2,340 shares during the period. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 58,918 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,827,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EPD. Raymond James Financial downgraded Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Friday, December 19th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Enterprise Products Partners from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One research 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Enterprise Products Partners has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.00.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of EPD stock traded down $0.42 on Tuesday, hitting $36.80. The stock had a trading volume of 3,739,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,192,965. Enterprise Products Partners has a one year low of $27.77 and a one year high of $37.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.06. The company has a market cap of $79.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.60. 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 (NYSE:EPD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.43% and a net margin of 11.05%.The business had revenue of $13.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is presently 82.71%.

Enterprise Products Partners declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas producer to reacquire up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Enterprise Products Partners

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.