Short Interest in Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) Declines By 58.5%

Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 31,270,000 shares, a drop of 58.5% from the May 15th total of 75,390,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,880,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dagco Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Enbridge in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Enbridge in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Enbridge in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Enbridge during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Wintrust Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Enbridge by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 736 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ENB. CIBC reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Enbridge in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Enbridge in a report on Monday, May 12th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Enbridge to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Enbridge in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Enbridge from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.00.

Enbridge Stock Performance

Shares of ENB stock opened at $46.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.99. Enbridge has a one year low of $34.60 and a one year high of $48.72. The firm has a market cap of $101.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.81.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The pipeline company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.20 billion. Enbridge had a return on equity of 10.16% and a net margin of 10.04%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Enbridge will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.679 dividend. This is a boost from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.82%. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 139.69%.

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.