Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Enbridge (NYSE:ENB)

Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 20,216 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,036% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,779 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enbridge

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Enbridge during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Enbridge during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Enbridge in the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Enbridge in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, PFS Partners LLC increased its stake in Enbridge by 95.8% in the 1st quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 922 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. 54.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Enbridge Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ENB opened at $41.05 on Thursday. Enbridge has a 1 year low of $31.03 and a 1 year high of $41.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.13. Enbridge had a return on equity of 10.07% and a net margin of 13.31%. The firm had revenue of $8.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Enbridge will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Enbridge Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.669 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.52%. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Enbridge from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Enbridge Company Profile

Enbridge Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company operates through five segments: Liquids Pipelines, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Gas Distribution and Storage, Renewable Power Generation, and Energy Services. The Liquids Pipelines segment operates pipelines and related terminals to transport various grades of crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons in Canada and the United States.