Enbridge Inc $ENB Shares Acquired by BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp

Key Points

• British Columbia Investment Management Corp increased its stake in Enbridge Inc by 98.9% in the first quarter, now owning approximately 1.9 million shares worth about $84.6 million.
• Analysts have provided mixed ratings for Enbridge, with several upgrades, including from Zacks Research, which raised it to a "strong-buy" rating and set an average price target of $60.50.
• Enbridge recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.6839 per share, reflecting a yield of 5.7%, but the company has a payout ratio of 134.98%.

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Enbridge Inc (NYSE:ENB - Free Report) TSE: ENB by 98.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,910,630 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 950,087 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp owned about 0.09% of Enbridge worth $84,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Enbridge by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 93,187,025 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,124,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569,879 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Enbridge by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 75,439,320 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,338,405,000 after buying an additional 1,148,580 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Enbridge by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 39,265,817 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,737,602,000 after buying an additional 513,058 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Enbridge by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 36,336,212 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,541,745,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Enbridge by 137.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 32,907,433 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,458,128,000 after acquiring an additional 19,074,827 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ENB. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Enbridge in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Enbridge from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Enbridge from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Enbridge in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Enbridge from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Enbridge has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.50.

Enbridge Stock Performance

NYSE:ENB traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $47.63. 3,359,577 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,011,780. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.91. Enbridge Inc has a 52 week low of $39.26 and a 52 week high of $48.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.79.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB - Get Free Report) TSE: ENB last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.06. Enbridge had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 10.11%.The business had revenue of $7.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Enbridge Inc will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.6839 dividend. This is a positive change from Enbridge's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. Enbridge's dividend payout ratio is currently 134.98%.

Enbridge Profile

Enbridge Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company operates through five segments: Liquids Pipelines, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Gas Distribution and Storage, Renewable Power Generation, and Energy Services. The Liquids Pipelines segment operates pipelines and related terminals to transport various grades of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in Canada and the United States.