Flax Pond Capital LLC Invests $445,000 in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Flax Pond Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 27,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Texas Yale Capital Corp. raised its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 1,311,965 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $21,634,000 after acquiring an additional 75,700 shares in the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its position in Energy Transfer by 100.1% during the fourth quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 161,523 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after purchasing an additional 80,786 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 436.6% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 90,160 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after purchasing an additional 73,359 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp grew its stake in Energy Transfer by 277.6% in the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 219,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,759,000 after purchasing an additional 161,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Energy Transfer by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 21,898,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $375,777,000 after purchasing an additional 544,944 shares during the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of ET opened at $18.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $64.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Energy Transfer LP has a one year low of $16.18 and a one year high of $20.70. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.42.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.78 billion. Energy Transfer had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 9.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ET has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.45.

Energy Transfer 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.