Northern Trust Corp Purchases 218,391 Shares of Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E - Free Report) by 42.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 734,368 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after purchasing an additional 218,391 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp's holdings in ENI were worth $20,092,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings 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 worth $7,470,000 after acquiring an additional 259,288 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in ENI by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 117,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $3,201,000 after acquiring an additional 5,300 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in ENI by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 88,054 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $2,409,000 after acquiring an additional 11,824 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in ENI during the fourth quarter worth $957,000. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in ENI by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 28,823 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 10,223 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on E shares. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of ENI in a report on Friday, April 25th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded ENI from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded ENI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.60.

ENI Stock Performance

ENI stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Monday, hitting $30.16. The stock had a trading volume of 281,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 320,792. The stock has a market cap of $50.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50 day moving average is $29.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.69. Eni S.p.A. has a 1 year low of $24.65 and a 1 year 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.

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

ENI Increases Dividend

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