Analysts Set Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) PT at $67.00

Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.00.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities initiated coverage on shares of Enbridge in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. CIBC reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Enbridge in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Raymond James raised Enbridge to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Enbridge from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Enbridge in a report on Friday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating for the company.

Enbridge Stock Performance

Enbridge stock opened at $46.59 on Tuesday. Enbridge has a fifty-two week low of $34.60 and a fifty-two week high of $47.08. The stock has a market cap of $101.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $11.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. Enbridge had a return on equity of 10.16% and a net margin of 10.04%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Enbridge will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.679 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.83%. This is an increase from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 157.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Enbridge by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,617,146 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,888,507,000 after acquiring an additional 3,611,421 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Enbridge by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 74,290,740 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,151,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495,742 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Enbridge by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,752,759 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,643,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,799 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Enbridge by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 36,336,212 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,541,745,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,684 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Enbridge during the 4th quarter valued at $909,415,000. 54.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Enbridge

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.