Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E) Shares Purchased by Optiver Holding B.V.

Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E - Free Report) by 1,885.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 273,042 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after acquiring an additional 259,288 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V.'s holdings in ENI were worth $7,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ENI during the fourth quarter worth about $14,233,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new position in ENI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,882,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of ENI by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 280,242 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $7,667,000 after buying an additional 73,511 shares in the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ENI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,189,000. 1.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on E. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $31.60 price target (down from $37.50) on shares of ENI in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of ENI in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Redburn Atlantic cut ENI from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered shares of ENI from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of ENI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ENI currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.60.

ENI Price Performance

E stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.78. The stock had a trading volume of 248,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,620. The stock has a market cap of $48.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company's 50 day moving average price is $28.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.80. Eni S.p.A. has a 1-year low of $24.65 and a 1-year high of $33.12.

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

ENI Increases Dividend

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