Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.87.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ERF shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Enerplus in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. TD Securities increased their price objective on Enerplus from $19.07 to $20.09 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Enerplus from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enerplus

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Albert D Mason Inc. increased its holdings in Enerplus by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 44,409 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Enerplus by 15.6% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Enerplus by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 29,243 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Enerplus by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 37,152 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Enerplus in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors own 58.42% of the company’s stock.

Enerplus Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ERF opened at $20.09 on Wednesday. Enerplus has a twelve month low of $13.46 and a twelve month high of $20.97. The company has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.97. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Enerplus (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.02. Enerplus had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 24.09%. The business had revenue of $362.04 million for the quarter. On average, analysts predict that Enerplus will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Enerplus Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th were given a $0.065 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 30th. Enerplus’s payout ratio is currently 14.44%.

About Enerplus

Enerplus Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, explores and develops crude oil and natural gas in the United States. Its oil and natural gas properties are located primarily in North Dakota, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.