Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) Short Interest Down 18.5% in March

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 17,443,385 shares, a decline of 18.5% from the February 26th total of 21,392,927 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,114,930 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Enterprise Products Partners

In other news, CEO Aj Teague bought 2,665 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $37.55 per share, with a total value of $100,070.75. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 77,576 shares in the company, valued at $2,912,978.80. The trade was a 3.56% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 32.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 3,106.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 32,060,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $102,784,000 after purchasing an additional 31,060,000 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $292,194,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 12.0% during 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 buying an additional 1,940,583 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 14.3% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 1,834,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $74,859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,976 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on EPD shares. Scotiabank increased their target price on Enterprise Products Partners from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Enterprise Products Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.73.

Enterprise Products Partners Price Performance

Shares of Enterprise Products Partners stock traded down $0.52 on Wednesday, hitting $37.33. 4,094,913 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,682,859. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.59. Enterprise Products Partners has a 1-year low of $27.77 and a 1-year high of $39.74.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.44 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.33% and a net margin of 11.05%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.9%. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is presently 82.71%.

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.