Bank of America Corp DE Reduces Stock Holdings in Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E)

Bank of America Corp DE cut its stake in shares of Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E - Free Report) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,061,845 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after selling 128,496 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.06% of ENI worth $29,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of E. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in ENI by 277.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 30,974 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $939,000 after buying an additional 22,768 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in ENI by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 33,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,877 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in ENI by 1,885.2% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 259,288 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in ENI by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 606,769 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $16,601,000 after purchasing an additional 70,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new position in ENI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,882,000. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

ENI Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE E traded down $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.41. 252,206 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 319,799. The firm has a market cap of $49.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.61, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.88. Eni S.p.A. has a 12-month low of $24.65 and a 12-month high of $33.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.01. ENI had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 2.76%. The firm had revenue of $25.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.52 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eni S.p.A. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

ENI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a -- dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be issued a $0.5391 dividend. This represents a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. This is a positive change from ENI's previous -- dividend of $0.35. ENI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.82%.

ENI Company Profile

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.