Traders Buy Large Volume of Enbridge Put Options (NYSE:ENB)

Enbridge Inc (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 20,216 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,036% compared to the average daily volume of 1,779 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ENB. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Enbridge from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of Enbridge from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Scotiabank raised shares of Enbridge from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Enbridge from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, CIBC downgraded shares of Enbridge from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Enbridge has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.00.

Institutional Trading of Enbridge

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in Enbridge by 83.1% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,301,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $104,284,000 after buying an additional 1,044,093 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Enbridge by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 51,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,338,000 after acquiring an additional 10,488 shares during the period. 111 Capital acquired a new position in shares of Enbridge during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,887,000. Loudon Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Enbridge by 40.6% during the 2nd quarter. Loudon Investment Management LLC now owns 29,801 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 8,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Enbridge by 37.7% in the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 71,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,256,000 after purchasing an additional 19,655 shares during the period. 54.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Enbridge Trading Up 0.3%

Enbridge stock opened at $47.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $103.52 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.39. Enbridge has a 12 month low of $39.73 and a 12 month high of $50.54.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.06). Enbridge had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The firm had revenue of $7 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Enbridge will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.97 dividend. This represents a $3.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a boost from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Enbridge’s payout ratio is presently 147.80%.

Enbridge Company Profile

Enbridge Inc is a Calgary, Alberta–based energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of energy transportation, distribution and generation assets. Its core activities include the operation of crude oil and liquids pipelines, natural gas transmission and distribution systems, and energy storage facilities. In addition to midstream transportation and storage, Enbridge has expanded into renewable power generation and energy transition projects, including wind, solar and utility-scale generation assets.

The company serves customers primarily in Canada and the United States and has interests in other international energy projects.