Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) Short Interest Update

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 26,740,000 shares, an increase of 17.1% from the January 15th total of 22,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on EPD shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.70.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

NYSE EPD traded up $0.31 on Friday, reaching $33.52. 4,566,851 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,115,015. Enterprise Products Partners has a one year low of $26.64 and a one year high of $34.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.65 billion, a PE ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The company had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.535 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.39%. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 110,648 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,470,000 after purchasing an additional 26,032 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the third quarter valued at $2,628,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 9.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,429,298 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $420,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,988 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 61.7% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 135,836 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,954,000 after purchasing an additional 51,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 5.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,072,866 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $118,561,000 after purchasing an additional 200,625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

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.