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

Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. 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 added to or reduced their stakes in ENB. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Enbridge by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,585,231 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $267,935,000 after purchasing an additional 207,200 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Enbridge by 70.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,296,374 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $52,648,000 after purchasing an additional 536,818 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in Enbridge by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,302,132 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $52,880,000 after purchasing an additional 319,907 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its stake in shares of Enbridge by 8.8% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 188,244 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,650,000 after acquiring an additional 15,207 shares during the period. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its position in Enbridge by 66.5% during the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 33,833 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 13,515 shares in the last quarter. 54.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ENB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Enbridge from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Enbridge from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Enbridge in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 target price (up from $59.00) on shares of Enbridge in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, TD Securities started coverage on Enbridge in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.00.

Enbridge Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ENB opened at $44.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Enbridge has a 52 week low of $32.85 and a 52 week high of $45.78. The company’s fifty day moving average is $42.89 and its 200 day moving average is $40.76. The stock has a market cap of $97.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.93.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.15. Enbridge had a net margin of 13.54% and a return on equity of 9.94%. The firm had revenue of $10.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Enbridge will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Enbridge Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, February 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.97%. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.76%.

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.