Ashford Capital Management Inc. Sells 32,480 Shares of Energy Transfer LP $ET

Ashford Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 184,623 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 32,480 shares during the quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $3,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,423,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366,594 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in Energy Transfer in the third quarter worth $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192,066 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $992,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 187.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,940,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $31,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,627 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on ET shares. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial started coverage on Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $18.87 on Wednesday. Energy Transfer LP has a one year low of $16.18 and a one year high of $20.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $19.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.55.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.3375 per share. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.2%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 112.50%.

Energy Transfer Company Profile

Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) is a Dallas-based midstream energy company that develops and operates infrastructure for the transportation, storage and processing of hydrocarbons. The company’s operations focus on moving and storing natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil and refined products through an integrated network of pipelines, terminals, storage facilities and processing plants. Energy Transfer provides core midstream services such as gathering, compression, fractionation, processing, and bulk transportation to support production and downstream supply chains.

Its asset base spans an extensive network across the United States, connecting producing regions, processing centers, petrochemical hubs and coastal and inland markets.