Peoples Financial Services CORP. Decreases Stock Position in Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB)

Peoples Financial Services CORP. reduced its stake in shares of Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,145 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 306 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP.’s holdings in Enbridge were worth $1,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ENB. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Enbridge in the first quarter valued at about $152,843,000. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in Enbridge by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 32,531,675 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,157,802,000 after buying an additional 3,693,495 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Enbridge by 66.9% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 9,044,864 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $327,172,000 after buying an additional 3,624,089 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Enbridge by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 21,664,748 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $818,370,000 after acquiring an additional 2,203,123 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Enbridge by 3.9% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 36,649,579 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,325,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360,439 shares during the last quarter. 54.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Enbridge Price Performance

ENB stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.47. The stock had a trading volume of 253,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,972,379. Enbridge Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.31 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.42. The company has a market cap of $88.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.93.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.13. Enbridge had a net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The firm had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Enbridge Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enbridge Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.669 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. Enbridge’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Enbridge from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

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.