Millennium Management LLC Buys 223,597 Shares of Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E)

Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E - Free Report) by 215.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 327,201 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after acquiring an additional 223,597 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC's holdings in ENI were worth $8,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of ENI by 277.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 30,974 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $939,000 after acquiring an additional 22,768 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ENI by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 33,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $916,000 after acquiring an additional 3,877 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew 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. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its holdings in ENI by 13.1% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 70,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new stake in ENI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,882,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on E. Wall Street Zen lowered ENI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Redburn Atlantic lowered ENI from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of ENI in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets lowered ENI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.60.

ENI Price Performance

E traded up $0.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $29.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 108,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,980. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.66, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $28.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.66.

ENI (NYSE:E - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $25.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.52 billion. ENI had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 2.76%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Eni S.p.A. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ENI Increases Dividend

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

ENI 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.