Cullen Capital Management LLC Has $3.50 Million Stock Position in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Cullen Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 15.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 192,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 35,502 shares during the quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $3,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chelsea Counsel Co. raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 370.3% during the second quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 94,050 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,705,000 after purchasing an additional 74,050 shares during the period. Ariston Services Group increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 126.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ariston Services Group now owns 100,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 56,274 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Energy Transfer during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $930,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 275,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,125,000 after buying an additional 29,404 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 223.5% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,069,534 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $19,883,000 after buying an additional 738,885 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kelcy L. Warren acquired 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.95 per share, with a total value of $16,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 104,577,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,772,593,760.85. The trade was a 0.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Energy Transfer from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.62.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

ET opened at $16.56 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.29. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $14.60 and a 52-week high of $21.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.86 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.65.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.06). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 10.71% and a net margin of 5.66%.The company had revenue of $19.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.3325 per share. This represents a $1.33 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.0%. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 106.40%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

Energy Transfer LP provides energy-related services. The company owns and operates natural gas transportation pipeline, and natural gas storage facilities in Texas and Oklahoma; and approximately 20,090 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline. It also sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution and other marketing companies, and industrial end-users.