Enbridge Inc (NYSE:ENB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Enbridge Inc (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $60.50.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus boosted their price target on Enbridge from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. CIBC cut Enbridge from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Enbridge in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enbridge in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Enbridge from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enbridge

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ENB. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Enbridge during the second quarter worth $1,113,368,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Enbridge by 137.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 32,907,433 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,458,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,074,827 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Enbridge during the first quarter worth $208,490,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Enbridge by 38.7% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 13,213,321 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $599,556,000 after purchasing an additional 3,687,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Enbridge by 3.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,404,986 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,371,580,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,961 shares during the last quarter. 54.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Enbridge Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:ENB opened at $47.22 on Tuesday. Enbridge has a 12-month low of $39.73 and a 12-month high of $50.54. The stock has a market cap of $102.97 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50 day moving average of $48.46 and a 200-day moving average of $46.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.06. Enbridge had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 10.11%.The company had revenue of $7.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Enbridge will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.6839 dividend. This represents a $2.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. This is an increase from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio is presently 134.98%.

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.