Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Position in Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) by 39.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,631 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,856 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Enbridge were worth $491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Enbridge during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Enbridge by 836.4% during the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 721 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 644 shares during the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Enbridge during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Enbridge by 2,294.6% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 886 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 849 shares during the period. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Enbridge during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.60% of the company’s stock.

Enbridge Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ENB stock opened at $36.83 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $78.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.83. Enbridge Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.03 and a 1 year high of $40.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.02.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.03). Enbridge had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The company had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.62 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Enbridge Inc. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.677 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.35%. This is an increase from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Enbridge’s payout ratio is currently 129.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ENB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Enbridge in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Enbridge in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.20.

Enbridge 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.