Violich Capital Management Inc. Cuts Position in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD)

Violich Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,800 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 750 shares during the quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Enterprise Products Partners were worth $558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Verity & Verity LLC grew 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,628,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 9.3% during 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 grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 61.7% during 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 grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 5.2% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Enterprise Products Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.70.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Up 0.8 %

EPD opened at $33.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.07. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $26.31 and a fifty-two week high of $34.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.50 and its 200 day moving average is $30.66. The stock has a market cap of $71.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.09.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. Enterprise Products Partners had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The company had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.535 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.45%. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is presently 79.55%.

About Enterprise Products Partners

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.