Energy Transfer LP $ET Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,753,786 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 64,446 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Energy Transfer were worth $52,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Energy Transfer by 93.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 11,844 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 62.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,041 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 8,118 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Energy Transfer by 6.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 135,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,455,000 after buying an additional 7,901 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 436.5% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Energy Transfer by 5.6% in the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 50,919 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $923,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. 38.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Energy Transfer

In other Energy Transfer news, Director Kelcy L. Warren purchased 647,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $21.26 per share, for a total transaction of $13,775,799.68. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 147,901,879 shares in the company, valued at $3,144,393,947.54. This trade represents a 0.44% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James Perry purchased 12,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.23 per share, for a total transaction of $250,022.57. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 208,046 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,770.58. This represents a 6.32% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 1,012,359 shares of company stock worth $21,513,543. Insiders own 3.28% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Stock Up 0.1%

ET stock opened at $21.52 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.66. The company has a market cap of $74.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.57. Energy Transfer LP has a 12-month low of $16.18 and a 12-month high of $21.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $34.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.71 billion. Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 4.87%.Energy Transfer’s quarterly revenue was up 78.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. Energy Transfer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ET shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research cut Energy Transfer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Energy Transfer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.17.

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.