Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) Shares Acquired by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,475,459 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,109,040 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 4.16% of Enerplus worth $130,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ERF. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Enerplus by 239.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 40,727 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $720,000 after acquiring an additional 28,738 shares during the period. Prudential PLC raised its stake in shares of Enerplus by 43.8% during the third quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 26,420 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 8,052 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Enerplus by 1.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,697,831 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $29,933,000 after purchasing an additional 25,215 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Enerplus by 6.6% during the third quarter. Renaissance Group LLC now owns 127,095 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,241,000 after purchasing an additional 7,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Enerplus by 7.6% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,125,770 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $19,847,000 after purchasing an additional 79,781 shares during the last quarter. 58.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Enerplus Stock Performance

NYSE:ERF opened at $20.09 on Friday. Enerplus Co. has a 1 year low of $13.46 and a 1 year high of $20.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Enerplus (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $362.04 million during the quarter. Enerplus had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 24.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Enerplus Co. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enerplus Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.065 per share. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 30th. Enerplus’s payout ratio is currently 14.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ERF shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Enerplus in a research note on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. TD Securities upped their price target on Enerplus from $19.07 to $20.09 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut Enerplus from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.87.

Enerplus Profile

Enerplus Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, explores and develops crude oil and natural gas in the United States. Its oil and natural gas properties are located primarily in North Dakota, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.