Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Enterprise Products Partners, with eight holds, six buys, one strong buy and one sell. The average 12-month price target is approximately $39.87, close to the reported share price of $38.42.
• Enterprise Products Partners reported strong quarterly results, including $0.84 EPS versus the $0.75 estimate and revenue of $18.27 billion, up 60.8% year over year.
• The partnership raised its quarterly distribution to $0.56 per unit, representing a 5.8% annualized yield and marking 28 consecutive years of distribution increases.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.8667.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $41.00 price objective (up from $40.00) on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Enterprise Products Partners in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a "hold" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, June 17th.

Key Stories Impacting Enterprise Products Partners

Here are the key news stories impacting Enterprise Products Partners this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Income appeal remains a key support. EPD was highlighted among high-yield dividend stocks viewed as having sustainable payouts rather than being “yield traps.” The partnership has increased its distribution for 28 consecutive years, strengthening its appeal to retirement and income-oriented investors. Boomers Are Piling Into These 5 High-Yield Dividend Stocks, and None Are Yield Traps
• Positive Sentiment: Midstream fundamentals continue to attract attention. EPD was included in coverage of overlooked midstream dividend stocks, reinforcing the investment case based on recurring, fee-based energy infrastructure revenue and shareholder distributions. 2 Midstream Dividend Stocks Nobody's Talking About Right Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Management visibility may help investor confidence. Co-CEOs Jim Teague and Randy Fowler were interviewed by Advisor Access. The release primarily emphasized EPD’s scale, broad North American midstream platform and long record of distribution increases, without disclosing a major new financial development. Enterprise Products Partners Co-CEOs Interviewed by Advisor Access
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and investor attention increased. A reported analyst rating update and unusually high search interest could increase trading activity, but the available reports do not provide enough detail to determine whether the analyst’s view was upgraded or downgraded. Enterprise Products Partners Receives a Rating Update
• Negative Sentiment: Recent trading reflected broader weakness. EPD declined more than the general market in the latest reported session, but the coverage identified no new company-specific fundamental problem. The move appears more consistent with market or sector pressure than a disclosed change to operations or distributions. Enterprise Products Partners Suffers a Larger Drop Than the General Market

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enterprise Products Partners

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of EPD. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 21,636 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 0.8% in the second quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 35,270 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Everest Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 3.6% during the first quarter. Everest Financial Group LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Renasant Bank increased its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.3% in the second quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 21,160 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the period. Finally, Walker Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 20,256 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the company's stock.

Enterprise Products Partners Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of EPD opened at $38.42 on Friday. Enterprise Products Partners has a fifty-two week low of $30.01 and a fifty-two week high of $40.17. The company has a market capitalization of $82.98 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.09. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 10.79%.The business had revenue of $18.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 60.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Enterprise Products Partners will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Enterprise Products Partners's dividend payout ratio is 77.78%.

Enterprise Products Partners Company Profile

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. NYSE: EPD is a publicly traded midstream energy partnership that provides transportation, storage, processing and export services for crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), petrochemicals and refined products. The company operates an integrated network of pipelines, processing plants, fractionation facilities, storage assets and marine terminals.

Enterprise's NGL operations include natural gas processing, NGL fractionation and the production and distribution of ethane, propane, butanes and natural gasoline.

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