LPL Financial LLC Raises Holdings in Energy Transfer LP $ET

LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,696,319 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 235,863 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $126,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 44,625 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 6,305 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer during the 4th quarter worth about $304,000. CNB Bank boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. CNB Bank now owns 10,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $180,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,014,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $214,617,000 after acquiring an additional 374,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 69.5% during the 4th quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 964 shares in the last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ET. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.45.

Energy Transfer Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE ET opened at $19.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $65.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Energy Transfer LP has a 52-week low of $16.18 and a 52-week high of $20.70. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $19.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.32.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current 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 a boost 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 dividend yield of 7.1%. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 112.50%.

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.