Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $35.55 and last traded at $35.4460, with a volume of 302094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on EPD. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $37.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Friday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Enterprise Products Partners presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.00.

Enterprise Products Partners Trading Up 1.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $77.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.44 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.43% and a net margin of 11.05%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.2%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.71%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John R. Rutherford bought 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.09 per share, for a total transaction of $481,350.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 173,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,570,374.74. This represents a 9.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the third quarter valued at approximately $292,194,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 18,163,343 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $582,317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,940,583 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 14,624,238 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $453,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,659 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 119.4% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,414,035 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $74,859,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,976 shares during the period. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 5,743.2% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 1,019,056 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $32,671,000 after buying an additional 1,001,616 shares in the last quarter. 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.