John Rutherford, a director at Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), recently bought 10,000 shares. The buy increased his holdings by 7 percent, and came to a total cost just under $260,000.
This is the first insider activity since August, when another director bought 50,000 shares, at a slightly higher price. Going back over the last two years, there have been over a dozen insider buys with no sales. Most of the buys have been directors, with a three from the CEO.
Overall, company insiders own 32.7 percent of shares.
The oil and natural gas pipeline company is up just 4 percent over the last year, lagging the overall market. Earnings are down about 3 percent over the past year, and revenues are off by over 22 percent.
That trend may reverse soon, as EPD’s focus on natural gas should see better pricing going into the winter months.
EPD shares are structured as a partnership, so income goes out as distributions. At current prices, shares yield 7.7 percent.
Action to take: Investors looking for high current income in the energy space could do well with EPD, provided a partnership structure makes sense from a tax standpoint.
For traders, the January 2024 $27 calls, last going or about $0.30, could see high double-digit gains if prices rally on a move higher in natural gas.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.