Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Enterprise Products Partners Call Options (NYSE:EPD)

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 34,749 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 263% compared to the typical daily volume of 9,561 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on EPD. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Enterprise Products Partners from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FLC Capital Advisors raised its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 117,160 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,674,000 after buying an additional 5,300 shares during the last quarter. Smart Money Group LLC raised its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 38,890 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 23,022 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 73,470 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $220,000. 26.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Enterprise Products Partners Price Performance

EPD stock traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $33.68. 2,355,074 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,746,866. The company has a market cap of $72.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.09. Enterprise Products Partners has a 12-month low of $26.12 and a 12-month high of $34.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.87 and its 200 day moving average is $30.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.01). Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 20.31% and a net margin of 10.32%. The company had revenue of $13.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Enterprise Products Partners’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.535 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change 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 6.35%. Enterprise Products Partners’s payout ratio is currently 78.65%.

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.