170,900 Shares in Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) Bought by Todd Asset Management LLC

Todd Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 170,900 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,622,000. Todd Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Enerplus at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Enerplus in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,550,000. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Enerplus by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 30,000 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 2,580 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Enerplus by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,398,030 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $21,429,000 after buying an additional 74,880 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Enerplus by 7,592.3% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,092,996 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $19,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Enerplus by 18.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,366,419 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $130,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164,478 shares during the last quarter. 58.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ERF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. CIBC reduced their price objective on Enerplus from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Enerplus from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on shares of Enerplus from $25.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on Enerplus in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a “tender” rating and issued a $18.85 price target (down from $21.00) on shares of Enerplus in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.69.

Enerplus Price Performance

Shares of Enerplus stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $19.56. The stock had a trading volume of 2,077,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,014,999. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.97. Enerplus Co. has a 12 month low of $13.46 and a 12 month high of $20.97. The business’s 50-day moving average is $19.25 and its 200 day moving average is $16.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Enerplus (NYSE:ERF) (TSE:ERF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $437.10 million for the quarter. Enerplus had a return on equity of 40.36% and a net margin of 27.67%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Enerplus Co. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Enerplus Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This is a positive change from Enerplus’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Enerplus’s payout ratio is presently 12.38%.

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.