Independent Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 112,449 Energy Transfer LP $ET

Independent Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 112,449 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,170,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 acquiring an additional 25,366,594 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Energy Transfer by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 83,843,087 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,382,573,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192,066 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,862,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $992,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,042 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 128.0% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 2,585,439 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,634,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Energy Transfer by 187.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,940,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,627 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 38.22% of the company’s stock.

Energy Transfer Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:ET opened at $20.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $19.52 and a 200-day moving average of $18.84. The company has a market cap of $69.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.92, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.55. Energy Transfer LP has a one year low of $16.18 and a one year high of $20.70.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $27.77 billion during 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%. Energy Transfer’s revenue was up 32.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $0.3375 dividend. This represents a $1.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is currently 112.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised Energy Transfer from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $22.00) on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.55.

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.