Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Has $9.92 Million Position in Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E - Free Report) by 46.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 362,500 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after selling 319,219 shares during the quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC's holdings in ENI were worth $9,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in E. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in ENI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,233,000. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings in ENI by 1,885.2% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 273,042 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $7,470,000 after buying an additional 259,288 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in ENI by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 734,368 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $20,092,000 after buying an additional 218,391 shares during the last quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new position in ENI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,882,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in ENI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,999,000. Institutional investors own 1.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on E shares. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of ENI from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of ENI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of ENI in a report on Friday, April 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.60.

ENI Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of E stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $30.17. 219,671 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 320,949. The firm has a market cap of $50.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.88. Eni S.p.A. has a fifty-two week low of $24.65 and a fifty-two week high of $33.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.70.

ENI (NYSE:E - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $25.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.52 billion. ENI had a net margin of 2.76% and a return on equity of 11.03%. Equities analysts anticipate that Eni S.p.A. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

ENI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.5391 per share. This is an increase from ENI's previous -- dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.5%. ENI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.82%.

About ENI

Eni SpA engages in the exploration, production, refining, and sale of oil, gas, electricity, and chemicals. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production, Global Gas and LNG Portfolio, Refining & Marketing and Chemicals, Power & Renewables, and Corporate and Other Activities.