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

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 24,924 call options on the company. This is an increase of 105% compared to the typical volume of 12,132 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 2,862.8% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 7,756,006 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $225,777,000 after buying an additional 7,494,224 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 110.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,531,756 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $73,699,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,010 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 2,854.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,287,318 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243,741 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 9.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,429,298 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $420,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the third quarter worth about $30,746,000. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Enterprise Products Partners Price Performance

EPD stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $33.88. 2,112,889 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,161,754. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $32.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $73.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.09. Enterprise Products Partners has a fifty-two week low of $26.12 and a fifty-two week high of $34.63.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.01). Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 10.32% and a return on equity of 20.31%. The business had revenue of $13.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.67 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, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.535 per share. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.32%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. US Capital Advisors upgraded Enterprise Products Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.60.

About Enterprise Products Partners

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, petrochemicals, and refined products. It operates in four segments: NGL Pipelines & Services, Crude Oil Pipelines & Services, Natural Gas Pipelines & Services, and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services.