Analysts Set Enerplus Co. (TSE:ERF) Price Target at C$23.67

Enerplus Co. (TSE:ERF) (NYSE:ERF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$23.67.

ERF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Desjardins upped their price target on Enerplus from C$17.50 to C$19.25 and gave the stock a “tender” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. National Bankshares lowered their target price on Enerplus from C$21.00 to C$18.85 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. ATB Capital cut their price target on Enerplus from C$27.00 to C$26.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Enerplus from C$24.00 to C$25.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Enerplus from C$27.75 to C$27.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

Enerplus Stock Performance

TSE:ERF opened at C$27.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.31. Enerplus has a fifty-two week low of C$18.23 and a fifty-two week high of C$28.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is C$25.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$22.56. The stock has a market cap of C$5.56 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 2.65.

Enerplus (TSE:ERF) (NYSE:ERF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The oil and natural gas company reported C$0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.71 by C$0.03. Enerplus had a net margin of 29.85% and a return on equity of 39.59%. The company had revenue of C$595.12 million for the quarter. Analysts expect that Enerplus will post 3.001087 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enerplus Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a mar 24 dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Enerplus’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.32%.

Insider Activity at Enerplus

In other news, Senior Officer Ian Charles Dundas sold 104,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$24.13, for a total transaction of C$2,521,965.58. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Enerplus Company Profile

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.