Private Advisor Group LLC Has $193,000 Stock Position in Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF)

Private Advisor Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,589 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 1,110 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Enerplus were worth $193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Enerplus during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Enerplus by 356.5% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 2,310 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Enerplus during the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Enerplus in the 3rd quarter worth about $179,000. Finally, PAX Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Enerplus in the 3rd quarter valued at about $212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Securities raised their target price on Enerplus from $19.07 to $20.09 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Enerplus from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Enerplus in a research report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.87.

Enerplus Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ERF opened at $20.20 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.89 and its 200-day moving average is $17.16. Enerplus Co. has a twelve month low of $13.46 and a twelve month high of $20.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 1.97.

Enerplus (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $437.10 million for the quarter. Enerplus had a net margin of 24.09% and a return on equity of 33.88%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Enerplus Co. will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Enerplus Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th will be issued a $0.065 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Enerplus’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.