Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. by 17.3%, acquiring an additional 17,942 shares and raising its holdings to 121,597 shares worth approximately $4.15 million.
• Enterprise Products Partners recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.545, yielding 6.95%, an increase from the previous dividend, with a payout ratio currently at 80.15%.
• Wall Street analysts have generally upgraded their outlook for Enterprise Products Partners, with several firms rating it as a "buy" or "strong-buy" and setting a consensus target price of $36.25.

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD - Free Report) by 17.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 121,597 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 17,942 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Enterprise Products Partners were worth $4,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 13.7% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 15,122 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821 shares in the last quarter. Trek Financial LLC bought a new stake in Enterprise Products Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,405,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 470,226 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $14,661,000 after purchasing an additional 74,710 shares during the period. Fiducient Advisors LLC increased its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 77,413 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,428,000 after purchasing an additional 21,025 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $332,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.07% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Enterprise Products Partners

In other news, Director John R. Rutherford purchased 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $31.35 per share, for a total transaction of $470,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 158,586 shares in the company, valued at $4,971,671.10. This trade represents a 10.45% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William C. Montgomery acquired 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $31.55 per share, for a total transaction of $504,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 136,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,826. This trade represents a 13.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 32.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

EPD stock traded down $0.17 on Friday, hitting $30.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,192,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,759,700. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a 12-month low of $27.37 and a 12-month high of $34.63. The stock has a market cap of $66.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.64. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $31.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.06.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.01). Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 10.71%. The business had revenue of $11.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Enterprise Products Partners's revenue for the quarter was down 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Enterprise Products Partners's payout ratio is presently 81.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EPD. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Enterprise Products Partners from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. TD Cowen started coverage on Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. Argus raised Enterprise Products Partners to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Mizuho set a $38.00 price target on Enterprise Products Partners and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.25.

About Enterprise Products Partners

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, petrochemicals, and refined products. It operates in four segments: NGL Pipelines & Services, Crude Oil Pipelines & Services, Natural Gas Pipelines & Services, and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services.