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

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 107,885 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,142% compared to the average daily volume of 8,689 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 4,897 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 20,780 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 11,969 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,320 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Finally, Your Advocates Ltd. LLP grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP now owns 22,481 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EPD traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $29.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,604,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,971,343. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.58 and a 200-day moving average of $27.33. Enterprise Products Partners has a 12 month low of $25.19 and a 12 month high of $29.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $63.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 1.02.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.04. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 19.65%. The company had revenue of $14.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on EPD. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.58.

Enterprise Products Partners Company Profile

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.