First Merchants Corp Makes New $280,000 Investment in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD)

First Merchants Corp acquired a new position in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 8,924 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $3,470,000 after purchasing an additional 26,032 shares during the period. Paragon Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners in the third quarter valued at $2,628,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,225,988 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 51,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 200,625 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

Shares of EPD stock opened at $33.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.09. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a 1-year low of $26.64 and a 1-year high of $34.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.74.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.87 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 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.535 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.39%. Enterprise Products Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 79.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank started 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. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.70.

Enterprise Products Partners 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.