Markel Group Inc. Invests $7.64 Million in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. $EPD

Markel Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 202,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $7,644,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 14,075 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 47.6% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 65,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,486,000 after buying an additional 21,177 shares during the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners in the first quarter valued at $238,000. Diversified Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners in the first quarter valued at $225,000. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners during the 1st quarter worth about $213,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on EPD shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up from $34.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Enterprise Products Partners from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price target (up from $39.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.13.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

EPD traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.27. 2,123,631 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,623,675. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a 1-year low of $30.01 and a 1-year high of $40.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.49.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.03). Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 19.53%. The business had revenue of $14.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 81.48%.

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.