Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) Trading 0.8% Higher Following Dividend Announcement

Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB)’s share price traded up 0.8% on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $44.07 and last traded at $43.98. 556,770 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 4,850,427 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.64.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.10%. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ENB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price target (up from $59.00) on shares of Enbridge in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Enbridge from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Enbridge from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on Enbridge in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.00.

Enbridge Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.05.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $10.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.54 billion. Enbridge had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 13.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Enbridge Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Enbridge

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of Enbridge by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 32,531,675 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,157,802,000 after buying an additional 3,693,495 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Enbridge by 4.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,161,024 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $984,205,000 after purchasing an additional 936,863 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enbridge by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 23,083,951 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $821,331,000 after buying an additional 827,540 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in Enbridge by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 18,703,423 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $665,655,000 after buying an additional 644,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Enbridge by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,163,353 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $737,754,000 after acquiring an additional 2,061,758 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.60% of the company’s stock.

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.