Dividend Assets Capital LLC Decreases Stock Position in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Dividend Assets Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 683,788 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 59,370 shares during the quarter. Energy Transfer accounts for about 2.6% of Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $13,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 86,310,272 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,423,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Energy Transfer in the 3rd quarter worth $264,309,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after buying an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $992,923,000 after buying an additional 1,773,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in Energy Transfer by 128.0% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 2,585,439 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,634,000 after acquiring an additional 1,451,613 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ET shares. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $19.32 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $66.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.55. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $16.18 and a 52-week high of $20.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $19.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.61.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). The company 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 for the quarter was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $0.3375 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.