Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Enbridge Put Options (NYSE:ENB)

Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 20,216 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,036% compared to the average daily volume of 1,779 put options.

Institutional Trading of Enbridge

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ENB. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enbridge by 45.2% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,338 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 2,906 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enbridge by 18.9% in the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 33,348 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,109,000 after buying an additional 5,306 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Enbridge by 4.5% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 94,966 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,152,000 after acquiring an additional 4,120 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in Enbridge by 5.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 28,085,040 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $931,516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353,753 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in Enbridge by 12.2% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 16,794,345 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $557,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,785 shares during the period. 54.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Enbridge Price Performance

NYSE ENB opened at $35.35 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.63. Enbridge has a 12-month low of $31.03 and a 12-month high of $38.37.

Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) (TSE:ENB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $8.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9 billion. Enbridge had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 10.53%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Enbridge will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enbridge Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.677 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This is a boost from Enbridge’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.66%. Enbridge’s payout ratio is 136.04%.

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.