Verus Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in Energy Transfer LP $ET

Verus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 38,277 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $631,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Energy Transfer by 93.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 11,844 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Energy Transfer by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 135,395 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,455,000 after buying an additional 7,901 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Energy Transfer by 436.5% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in Energy Transfer by 5.6% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. 38.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Energy Transfer Stock Performance

NYSE:ET opened at $19.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.47 and its 200 day moving average is $18.25. Energy Transfer LP has a fifty-two week low of $16.18 and a fifty-two 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.

Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.05). Energy Transfer had a return on equity of 9.77% and a net margin of 4.66%.The firm had revenue of $27.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Energy Transfer’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Energy Transfer LP will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Energy Transfer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.3375 per share. This is an increase from Energy Transfer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Energy Transfer’s payout ratio is 112.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ET shares. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Energy Transfer in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Energy Transfer in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Energy Transfer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Energy Transfer from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $23.45.

About Energy Transfer

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.