Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 65,145 Shares of Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 899,366 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,145 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Enbridge were worth $38,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Enbridge by 4.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,161,024 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $984,205,000 after buying an additional 936,863 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Enbridge by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,163,353 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $737,754,000 after acquiring an additional 2,061,758 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Enbridge by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,142,638 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $655,556,000 after purchasing an additional 176,733 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Enbridge by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 12,278,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $498,734,000 after purchasing an additional 2,668,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Enbridge by 10.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,125,670 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $416,431,000 after purchasing an additional 985,546 shares in the last quarter. 54.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Enbridge Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ENB opened at $44.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Enbridge Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.85 and a 1 year high of $45.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.76.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.15. Enbridge had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 13.54%. The firm had revenue of $10.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Enbridge Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Enbridge Cuts Dividend

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

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.