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

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 154,161 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 874% compared to the average daily volume of 15,820 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EPD. Wolfe Research raised Enterprise Products Partners from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Enterprise Products Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Enterprise Products Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Aj Teague bought 2,665 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $37.55 per share, with a total value of $100,070.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 77,576 shares in the company, valued at $2,912,978.80. This trade represents a 3.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 32.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Enterprise Products Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,015,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 3,112,119 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $99,775,000 after buying an additional 31,733 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 10.0% during the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 678,769 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $21,225,000 after buying an additional 61,669 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 3.0% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,252,088 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $39,153,000 after buying an additional 36,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 20.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 229,911 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,189,000 after buying an additional 38,660 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Down 0.1%

EPD stock opened at $38.74 on Friday. Enterprise Products Partners has a one year low of $29.68 and a one year high of $39.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.51 and a 200-day moving average of $34.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.55.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.03). Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $14.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.48%.

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.