Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Takes $102,000 Position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,487 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ET. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 12,090.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 12,455,613 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $244,005,000 after purchasing an additional 12,353,441 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,634,018 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $756,840,000 after buying an additional 5,254,721 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $79,113,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Energy Transfer in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,166,000. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,331,220 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $319,929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,512,060 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on ET. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Energy Transfer from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.64.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of ET stock opened at $17.94 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.62. Energy Transfer LP has a 52 week low of $14.60 and a 52 week high of $21.45. The stock has a market cap of $61.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 5.74%. The company had revenue of $21.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a $0.3275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.30%. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.24%.

About Energy Transfer

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.